Sonic Dawn
by musiclover2399
Summary: Roxas details a year in his life as he attends Twilight Town High, plays in his band Sonic Dawn, learns to cope with family problems, and finds love. T for language. RoxasxNaminé SoraxKairi RikuxXion
1. January 1st

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**New Year**

* * *

I've never been one to dance, but right now I feel like it's the only thing I can do to express myself. After what seems like the longest year of my life, things finally seem to be at peace again. Things are in order in school, with my friends, with my family, and with my romantic life even. Actually, things are better than before. It all started New Years Day…

"Happy New Year!" shouted seemingly everybody in the room. I was in the basement of my friend Riku's house, sitting on the couch, watching the T.V. along with everyone else and counting down. It was a bit anticlimactic, as it was every year, but it was still fun to be with friends and make bad jokes about being the last time we do this or that until the next year. I stood up and feigned exaggerated excitement as everyone else did.

"Roxas! Let me give you your first hug of the New Year!" Naminé said as she immediately grasped me. I hugged back and let go, feeling a little bit short handed but shrugged it off. We had a quick meeting of eyes before being pulled aside by our other friends. Kairi, Riku, Hayner, Pence, Olette, Xion, Axel, Demyx, and my cousin Sora all gave me hearty pats and hugs after Naminé, basically all repeating that how they were our first hugs of the year.

After everyone sat down again and the joy of the occasion subsided somewhat, Sora, my cousin, came up with an excellent suggestion:

"Hey, lets play our first video game of the year. Rock Band anyone?" The girls all rolled their eyes with grins, convinced we were too obsessed with the game, but we didn't care. They could have turns too of course. Riku plugged in a few things and then handed Demyx a guitar controller, kept one for himself to use for bass, handed me the microphone, and then Sora positioned himself behind the drum kit. We all were mirroring our real instruments from our band, Sonic Dawn, for which I sang and played guitar. We lived in Twilight Town, my hometown, so the name went well for a band from there.

Riku shuffled through the songs and picked out a Smashing Pumpkins song. A little melancholic for the day, but a good band anyway, so we played along. I made faces as I imitated the singer as best I could and occasionally would point to one of the girls, usually Kairi, as I sang lines that included the word "you". I was actually kind of hoping she would take my rock star moves as hints. I had a subtle crush on her and was trying to give subtle hints.

We finished the song and took a bow as our sitting friends applauded our efforts. Sora and I stepped down from our glory and were replaced by Pence, who was Naminé's boyfriend, and Hayner, respectively. We sat down close to Kairi and Naminé, who were best friends forever, on one of the basement's old and beat up couches. I grabbed a water bottle before sitting, the best choice for a vocalist of course.

"I think we did pretty good," Sora said with a smug smile.

" Oh yeah, totally," Kairi said, playfully rolling her eyes.

"Hey, we weren't far off from a high score." I added, sipping some water.

"You guys did well, you should be proud." Naminé said with a grin.

"Thank you," Sora said as he turned his attention back to the current incarnation of the band. "They clearly don't have the same chemistry without us."

"Of course not," I added, shaking my head to further express my point.

"You guys are such dorks," Kairi said smiling. We all had a laugh and watched the others play. Kairi and Naminé insisted they didn't feel like playing much, choosing to instead stay with us. I was glad because it gave me a chance to be with Kairi for a bit longer. We all continued playing though for a little over an hour. About this time, Sora finally checked his phone to see the time.

"Hey Roxas, we better get going, we don't want to miss our parents," Sora said as the others were finishing up another song. The smile that had been on my face for most of the night faded a bit and I nodded in understanding.

"You guys are leaving?" asked Axel.

"Come on, we were about to watch a movie too I think," said Olette, holding up a pair of DVD cases.

"Yeah, either 'Yes Man' or 'Toy Story'", Hayner added. The second option may have seemed weird, but we all loved Disney a lot.

"It's tempting, but we promised our family we'd be home not too late," I said. Riku shut off the game and took a seat next to Xion, who smiled a bit to herself as he did. He sighed.

"Well if you have to go…" he began shrugging. Sora hit his best friend's shoulder as we began giving our goodbyes to everyone in the room.

"Hey, can I get a ride too?" Kairi asked. "I'm feeling tired," she explained. "Do you need one sis?"

"No, I'll get one with Axel, I already asked," explained Xion. The two were twins and looked alike, except for the hair. Axel and Demyx were cousins also, but only had so many similar features, unlike Sora and I.

"Can I get a ride too?" piped in Naminé. They needed a ride from someone as the three were dropped off together, so we obliged.

"Ah you guys stink," joked Demyx. The two girls gave quick hugs as we headed upstairs and out the front door. It was dark and very chilly, with the snow crunching under our feet as we walked. We all shivered as Sora got in the driver's seat, Kairi sat directly behind him, and I got shotgun, with Naminé directly behind me. Sora turned on the car and began the process of letting the car warm up. A pop-punk band started playing loudly and he turned it down so we could hear ourselves. After a few minutes, we finally took off.

"Today was fun," Kairi said with a smile.

"Yeah it was," Sora absentmindedly added. I was staring out the window at the streetlight lit streets, but Kairi speaking up brought me back into the car.

"We totally kicked ass at Rock Band," I said in a blasé tone.

"Uh, you boys…" Kairi said with a smile. We all chucked as Sora pulled into her driveway. The lights were off in her nice two story red house. "Well, I'll see you guys tomorrow hopefully," she said as she hugged Sora and I from behind and wrapped her arms around our seats. "Call me later," she added to Naminé. She nodded, then two hugged and she finally got out and walked to her door and went inside.

"Now to Naminé's…" Sora said, looking through the back window as he reversed out. Once we were back on the street, Naminé scooted to the middle of the back seats.

"Thanks for driving me home," Naminé said in a grateful tone.

"No problem," Sora responded.

"Yeah, but Pence looked a little envious," I joked. Naminé giggled a bit.

"Well he's probably having fun back at Riku's place. Toy Story was his favorite movie as a kid I think."

"Yeah it was," I confirmed. He and I had been friends for years, along with Hayner, Olette, and Axel. "I remember he even had a toy of Buzz Lightyear."

"Didn't Seifer try stealing it once?" Sora asked, remembering the toy.

"Yeah, even back then he was a dick. Didn't stop me from getting it back though," I said, remembering the grade school bash. "Of course nowadays he wouldn't need me to do that again," I quickly added, trying to not make him look bad in front of his girlfriend. I knew to say that specifically because Naminé was one of my best friends. I knew her pretty well.

We finally reached her house. It was really similar to Kairi's house except a creamy white. Her lights were also mostly off. "I'll see you guys later," she said as she imitated Kairi and gave us backseat hugs, first Sora and then myself. She stepped out of the car and waved as she started the trek down her driveway. Sora immediately pulled out of the driveway and started driving. Just on a whim, I decided to look back at Naminés house. I could swear I saw her still on her driveway, looking our way.

"What time's our next gig again?" Sora asked, stopping my train of thought.

"Uhm…" I began. "Oh, well the show starts at five, but the managers said to expect to go on around six." Sonic Dawn was playing a show with two other local bands at a church. It wasn't anything big or serious, just fun. It was only a few days away; I really had to keep practicing.

"Cool, cool…" Sora said as we reached his house. None of us really lived far from each other. We noticed that his lights were still on. We parked on the driveway and then stepped in. "Hey, we're back!" Sora called down the hall. At the end of the hall was the kitchen and our parents popped their heads out. Sora's mom, a very pretty woman with long straight brown hair and blue eyes, and his dad, who looked like an older version of Sora except with brown eyes, were visible and waved us over. Also in the kitchen was my mother, who was also very pretty, blonde, and had blue eyes like myself. She was sitting with Sora's parents and was watching some New Year's party stuff on T.V. with them. They had guests but had since left.

"How was the party, boys?" asked Sora's dad.

"It was fun, we played video games," Sora responded, chuckling at the second part. "We were going to watch a movie but it was already late and wanted to catch you guys. Then we gave Kairi and Naminé rides home too." I instantly thought of the two girls, and zoned out as I thought about Naminé possibly having looked back at us as we left.

"That's nice boys," Sora's mom commented. "We were about to sleep ourselves."

"Did you want to stay here or go home Roxas?" my mom asked. I had been staying over about once a week for months now. It had actually become kind of a routine.

"I think I'll stay; I feel like just sleeping right now," I responded truthfully. I gave my mom a good hug as she got ready and left. The four of us still there headed upstairs and got ready for bed as usual. Instead of staying in the guest room, I went with Sora to his room.

Sora's room was pretty basic, with white walls and a few poorly organized things laying around, like cases for discs and a practicing pad for drums. On the ceiling, he had a handful of star shaped ornaments hanging. He was always interested in traveling through space.

"Can't sleep alone?" he joked. I threw him a look and he threw a pillow in retaliation, which I kept for myself as I unrolled a sleeping bag. I lay down as Sora did the same under his covers after shutting off the lights.

"Hey Sora, what do you think of Kairi?" I asked after a few minutes.

"She's really cool," he mumbled after a pause. I smiled at the thought of her. However, she always made me think of someone else too.

"What about Naminé?" I asked. There was no response. "Sora?" I asked again. He was asleep for sure. I fell asleep that night as I remembered what could've been, had it not been for one thing.

* * *

**So how did you guys like it? All reviews are welcome.**


	2. January 3rd

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Lemonhead

* * *

**

It was Saturday the third of January, and my band mates and I were sitting in the basement of a church, watching a local band play through a handful of covers and two original songs. They played on an elevated part of the floor that was only about 3 feet high, but still constituted a stage. They were good, but the crowd stood around or sat unenthusiastically during the entire set. What made the situation awkward for us was that they were basically doing what we had planned on doing.

"Thank you everyone, and enjoy the rest of the show," the lead singer of the band said as he and his band unplugged and walked off to generally warm applause. The band dispersed into the crowd as people started to kind of wander about, getting snacks and going to the bathroom. Demyx, Riku, Sora, and myself all stepped onto the stage at this time and started grabbing our equipment that was laying in a back room found to the side of the stage.

After a few minutes, everyone was plugged in and I was given nods of approval to begin from the other three. I quickly scanned the room to see where our friends were. Sure enough, Axel, his girlfriend Larxene, and Xion were all right near the front with big smiles on. After another quick glance, I saw Hayner, Pence, and Olette walk into the basement, with big smiles on coming up front too. I was disappointed that I didn't see Kairi and Naminé, but knew for sure Kairi must've been around if her sister was. I supposed that Naminé must have been around if Pence was too. I felt an extra yearning to see Naminé; she always seemed to show up. In fact, I remembered how two and a half years before this gig, when I was still fourteen, she was the first to ever hear me play besides family.

"_I feel kind of dumb doing this," I confessed to Sora. We were outside of my house, in the front yard on a warm and sunny perfect summer day. I had my acoustic guitar in my hands, but I still hadn't started yet. Sora was with me and had a bongo drum._

"_Roxas, we're going to be in high school in a few months. We'll finally be able to start a band with Riku since he's been taking lessons and we could find maybe even another person for out band. Trust me, we should get experience while we can," Sora explained._

"_You have a point, but we're just sitting out front at noon and know one's even passing by," I responded. As if they heard what I had said, a figure walking on the sidewalk had just turned the corner at the end of our block and was headed out direction. Sora nudged my arm and I started playing a Beatles song, specifically "Yesterday". Sora quickly caught on and provided a beat as I opened my mouth and sang at a moderate volume._

_We were about halfway through the short song and I could feel the person's presence. Instead of looking up, I just kind of stared at the sidewalk ten feet in front of us. I also noticed that the figure slowed and had come to a complete stop in front of us as I could see a pair of somewhat curvy legs. I continued to stare at the ground as Sora hummed the ending with me and the person started clapping._

_I finally looked up and saw a fourteen-year-old Naminé, clapping with a big smile on. She was wearing a white summer dress and looked as beautiful as a fourteen-year-old girl could hope to look to a fourteen-year-old boy. I suddenly felt a little underdressed as Sora and I were wearing khaki shorts and he wore a red shirt while I wore a black and white checkered shirt. I couldn't tell you the expression on Sora's face because I couldn't look away from Naminé's face and pretty blue eyes._

"_I really love that song!" she said soon after._

"_Yeah," I started, chuckling. "I was a little worried we'd mess up but it turned out okay I guess."_

"_Better than okay! Don't you think so…?" Sora said, trying to get her to say her name._

"_Naminé. My name is Naminé," she said with a smile._

"_I'm Roxas. It's nice to meet you," I said, with a smile I was able to let free._

"_And I'm his brother Sora," Sora added. "Do you go to school here? We haven't really seen you around."_

"_I just moved here last week actually, a few blocks over," she explained, waving her hand in the general direction of her home. "I decided to take a walk to kind of get a feel of the town. It's really nice here!"_

"_Yeah, we've been here pretty much our whole lives. We could show you around if you want," I offered._

"_Yeah, you can meet our friend Kairi too, I get the feeling you two would get along," Sora said, laughing a little._

"_I'd love that!" Naminé said, basically agreeing to be a new best friend._

Now however, I couldn't see her in the crowd. I still felt that same rush whenever I looked to her in the crowd. One of the few differences was that my shorts were dark jeans and my shirt was now a checkered fleece jacket. I had a crazy urge though, so I went for it. "Guys, are you okay with starting with lemonhead?" I asked, quickly trying to gauge the rest of the band's reactions. They all looked a little confused, but shrugged in agreement. I spoke into the microphone to start the show. "Thanks for sticking around everyone! We're going to start off with an original song called lemonhead. I'll give you a hint about what the song's about: My favorite something." Some people in the crowd "wooed" in response and we began.

Lemonhead was a bit of a slow, easy listening kind of song. It was influenced by the Beatles song "Yesterday", but a little quicker and brighter. I began churning out the sunny day-like lyrics.

_**You are my favorite.**_

_**You are the tastiest flavor of all.**_

_**Unlike any other,**_

_**You know how to sweeten**_

_**Everything I taste**_

_**And all I will.**_

It was such a fun song to sing, and I could tell people enjoyed it, despite the lack of rhythmic moving to the music.

_**Our time is always**_

_**Just temporary.**_

_**But you're too sweet.**_

_**I just can't forget.**_

_**I always dream of the next time**_

_**You and I will be together again.**_

My eyes caught Naminé and Kairi towards the back of the room after I was sure they weren't there before. I figured they must've just been in the bathroom. My smile from singing the song grew larger and we wrapped up the short, two and half minute song. We got warm applause and whistles from Axel.

We continued to play the show, mostly cover songs, and I would make quick banter between songs. It would always be whether what the song was about or why we picked it. The crowd seemed to really warm up to us as they started dancing a bit at one point and by the end, no one was sitting.

It was finally time for us to wrap up the show, so I finished and advertised quickly. "That concludes our set. You've been great! We're playing another show in a few weeks hopefully; just follow us online and hopefully we'll see some of you there too." We got plenty of applause before people started shuffling around again and we packed our stuff. We got off stage and met with our friends who greeted us warmly. We got a few slaps on the back and hugs in support.

"Great set you guys!" said Xion. Everyone heartily agreed.

"That lemonhead song you guys played was really cool," Axel began. "I don't see you eating them that often though Roxas." I chuckled a bit looking at the ground and rubbed my head.

"Yeah, it was mostly just for fun. They seemed like a good subject to sing about," I responded. "I'm hungry by the way, who's up for getting something to eat?" I was given mixed responses as most had either gotten full on snacks already or were going to eat dinner with their families. After figuring out who wanted to go and driving arrangements, the group consisted of the band minus Demyx, Hayner, Olette, Pence, Naminé, and Kairi.

We drove over to a cool Mexican place in the hub area of town and all walked in. We ordered and got our food then sat at a long table. The place was painted in warm pastel colors and was obviously well kept and clean. The food itself was great too. I got a steak burrito with the usual ingredients plus some extra. The show had made me work up an appetite.

"So school starts on Monday again," did you guys get all your homework done?" asked Olette, trying to strike up a conversation.

"Mostly, yeah. Just a few last minute things," Hayner responded quickly.

"Yeah, same," added Sora. He continued eating his food quickly; clearly glad we came to eat.

"Jeez Sora, slow down," Kairi said, laughing a bit. "You might choke."

"Would you perform CPR?" Sora asked slyly.

"Hmmm… Maybe," Kairi responded, looking purposely indifferent. We all chuckled a bit at the two. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little bit jealous, but felt that Sora was somehow justified automatically when it came to flirting with Kairi. They were the two who subconsciously liked each other, but never seemed to realize. About two months ago however, they seemed to become more aware. No one except them knew why, but it was funny and cute to watch. It kept making me think that maybe I only liked her because she seemed like such a good option since we were friends since we were kids, but Sora being with her kept coming into my mind.

We all continued talking about dreading the start of school until we finally decided to leave, about twenty minutes after being done eating. We quickly reviewed rides as we got into the parking lot and Sora and I got into his car, but Kairi got shotgun. We were the first ones to leave as the others were still shuffling around. I looked back and saw Pence lead Naminé to his car along with Hayner and Olette and felt a quick sting in my chest. I looked slightly away and then looked forward as Sora kept driving.

"You guys were great, really," Kairi said with a smile, looking between the two of us.

I let out a quick snicker of enjoyment. "Thanks Kairi. Thanks for coming too of course."

"No problem!" she enthusiastically responded. We reached her house after a few more minutes and saw that it was very dark out already. The sky was gray with winter.

After pulling onto her driveway, I got out of the car ready to take shotgun. She opened the door and gave me a hug still sitting. She and Sora then leaned in to hug but neither moved their heads that much and almost kissed by accident. The both awkwardly laughed as they pulled away from one another, and then tried again, being careful with their heads.

She got out of the car smiling and walked to her door, with her head slightly bowed. I got into the car and noticed Sora watching her with a big goofy grin on his face. I stayed silent, smiling at the moment. Finally Sora seemed to snap out of it and began the way to my house.

It was a relatively quiet drive. Sora still had a bit of a grin on his face, which got me thinking if someone could warrant a similar look on my face. Just then, we passed Naminé's house and I could see the light in her room was on as we passed. We reached my house, only a few blocks away. Sora pulled into the driveway of my simple, light orange home. It blended in well with the setting sun.

"Thanks for the ride," I said with a smile. "I'll see you later, probably tomorrow."

"Of course," Sora responded with a matching smile. He gave me a quick hug and I got out, grabbed my guitar from the trunk, and walked inside. The lights were on in the kitchen and living room, and I saw my mom was in the living room watching T.V. She turned to face me, looking excited and pretty tired.

"How was the show?" she asked happily.

"It was great! The original songs we wrote went over really well," I said, genuinely satisfied.

"That's good! I'm proud of you Roxas," she responded. "I'm going to try even harder to be at your next show."

"Ha, thanks mom, but don't worry about," I responded truthfully. "Work is important, I know. I'm going to get to bed, I'm tired now."

"Okay, good night son," my mom said with a smile.

"Good night." I headed upstairs and received a text as I finished getting ready for bed.

"**Great show tonight!"**

**From: Naminé**

I smiled and responded: **"Thanks, for coming!"**

"**No problem, I'd never miss a show!"**

"**I know, thank you, honestly. Good night."**

"**Sweet dreams!"**

I sighed with a smile and thought to myself about that girl with lemon blonde hair, "What a sweet girl."

* * *

**I realize things might have gotten a bit congested with the characters, but I plan on focusing on specific relationships soon. Also, the time between chapters is gonna be a lot more (in the story, I don't mean updates) to make it easier to span over a year. There might be instances where one chapter immediately takes place after another, but it'll vary. The next will probably be based a few weeks after this. Thanks for reading and all reviews are welcome!**


	3. January 19th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Voices**

* * *

It was the nineteenth of January, 9:40 A.M., and I was sitting in my psychology class with my head resting on my palm, listening to the teacher's lecture. Mr. Taylor wasn't a boring guy or anything, he just seemed to talk a lot more than other teachers and interject personal stuff. He was the only teacher whose divorces I could say I was informed on. Still, he was nice and his class was much freer than my other classes.

The room was rectangular and he would lecture in front of his desk using the whiteboard on the west side of the room when he wasn't in the middle talking. We all sat in one of three sections that were situated on the North, South, and East sides of the room, with the North and South being slightly angled facing West for Mr. Taylor's lectures. I sat in the North section with Riku, while Naminé and Xion sat in the South section (giving us all an easy view of each other I might add).

"…so never self-diagnose yourself. People will commonly think they have the worst with few symptoms," Mr. Taylor said as he finished his lecture on mental diseases. He then looked at the clock and saw that we had ten minutes of class left. "Go ahead and get with your partners and talk about your presentations." He was speaking of these presentations we were supposed to give on various mental diseases. Riku and I were partners as were Naminé and Xion. We got panic disorder while they got schizophrenia. They had a lot more material to work with than we did; a bad fact considering Riku and I knew we wouldn't use our time as wisely. We decided to talk instead of doing our work of course.

"So Roxas," Riku started as he turned his desk to face mine and take out notes for a decent cover, "have you been doing anymore songwriting?"

"A bit, yeah. No lyrics though," I thoughtlessly responded. I wanted to change the subject despite Riku liking to be active in with the band. Music was therapy but you also had to think about what you were writing about a lot, whether you wanted to or not. "You know what I've been thinking about now that we're in psych class?"

"What's that?"

"In movies and stuff, when a character acts like they have schizophrenia or are hallucinating or any of that, the other characters always guess it right, right away."

Riku chuckled a bit then asked, "Can you elaborate?" while still wearing a smile.

"If the character actually has a problem, the other characters always immediately act as if they should take him really seriously. But honestly, if Joe or some random kid in class started acting like he had schizo, what would you think?"

"That he was either begging for attention or was incredibly stoned."

"Exactly!" I said, leaning back with my hands behind my head in satisfaction. Riku laughed and looked down thinking about what I said.

"Maybe we should ask the experts," he said, jerking his head in the direction of Xion and Naminé. I looked over and sure enough, they were flipping through papers obviously doing their work like we should've. I wanted to immediately tear them away from their work, especially Naminé, but I knew we shouldn't.

"They're busy…"

"Hey, Xion, Naminé." Riku called. They both immediately looked towards us and put smiles on.

"What's up?" asked Xion, surprisingly eagerly.

"Roxas here has been hearing voices in his head, what do you think about that?"

"No he has not," Naminé said, shaking her head with a smile. I laughed as she had just proved my point. People in television and movies always responded a little too seriously when people easily could've been messing around with them.

"You're right, but there was a voice in my head that said to talk to you guys," Riku said casually.

"Oh really now?" asked Xion with eyebrows up in mock surprise. "What else did it say?" Riku flirtatiously responded, making up some stuff about eating this weekend despite it being Monday. I listened with amusement for a while but then looked at Naminé who seemed to have been doing the same thing. Just as I started to feel my heart beat itself, she looked at me with a smile. I smiled and shrugged. She laughed and shrugged too. I loved this class.

***

It was now just after 7:00 P.M. that same day, and I had just finished my homework. It was perfect timing too because my mom had finished dinner. She made spaghetti, one of my favorite meals. I jogged downstairs and into the kitchen and saw my mom leaning on the counter, staring into seemingly nothing.

"Hey mom," I called. I realized she probably hadn't heard me come down the stairs; I seemed to have startled her a bit.

"Hey there Roxas," she said, quickly composing herself. "Ready to eat?"

"Of course!" I happily responded. I got myself a plate, a drink, and sat down at the kitchen table with her. I immediately started chowing down and quickly too. It just tasted too good to leave any time between having some in my mouth.

"I'm glad you like it," my mom said, giggling the slightest bit.

"It's delicious!" I mumbled, though I doubted she could actually hear what I had said. I finished a second plate quickly while my mom very casually still ate her first plate.

"So how was school?"

"Same old," I said shrugging. "I'm just glad Monday is over."

"Of course," she said with a soft smile.

"How was work?"

"Same old." I laughed, but I couldn't imagine the same old in an office job being that entertaining unless it had Steve Carell as a boss. She was working late pretty often too, which neither of us liked.

After a few more minutes of conversation, I headed upstairs to practice music and play some video games, and maybe read a bit too. I ended up playing a lot, but with not much fire. The book I was reading got kind of boring too, but I knew I liked it. I just felt a bit lacking I guess. Things brightened when I got a text.

From Axel: **Roxas, lets get some food after school tomorrow, the lunch at school has tasted too much like cardboard lately.**

I liked the idea, but was feeling lazy. Still, I knew I would anyway. I responded and told him that I would go. I watched some T.V. in my room afterwards when I got another text.

From Riku: **Hey Roxas, lets work on that presentation for real. It's due a week from Friday.**

This was an idea that I agreed with, but felt even lazier about. My fingers dragged as I responded with details on what days would work for me. I got ready for bed and was a bit annoyed that I got a third text. Tonight I was _the guy_ apparently. I brightened when I saw whom it was from.

From Naminé:** Olette's birthday is coming up. Wanna shop for gifts with Kairi and Sora and I this weekend?**

I had a feeling that Hayner would completely outshine us despite them not being together. They may as well have been though. I agreed to the shopping trip and suddenly about half my week was booked and I was feeling pretty good.

After about an hour, I had the urge to go to the bathroom so I went in the hall and did my business when I heard noise from my mom's room. I was surprised since she had told me good night not long after the texts. I stopped in the dark hallway to listen and I heard her voice. I couldn't make out what she was saying, but it sounded kind of solemn. I figured she must've have just been on the phone with one of her friends.

* * *

**Half the length of the previous chapter, but ultra quick and good character development too if I do say so myself.**


	4. February 7th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Twilight Taste**

* * *

I woke up and immediately realized my entire body felt groggy. I had clearly slept too much, so I ran my hand over to my nightstand, looking for my phone. I opened it and saw that it was 12:03 P.M., February 7th. I smacked my phone back down and slapped my face as I leaned back again and thought about how in a few hours I had to play an acoustic set that I agreed to on a whim.

A week ago I visited Olette's house as it was her birthday and gave her the book that Naminé helped me pick out. I knew Olette's favorite authors, so I had Naminé and Kairi find out which books she needed in her collection. While at her house to hang out for a bit on her birthday, I met her uncle who looked strangely familiar. It turned out he owned Twilight Taste, the local hipster coffee shop. I liked the place a lot and knew people played acoustic sets there, so I asked him about it and he was really excited when I told him I'd play for free. I wanted the experience that you could only get live.

The set itself was supposed to be at 6 P.M., a while after dark in February. Demyx was going to play piano on a few songs so it wouldn't just be me up there. I was glad too, I could handle being at the forefront, but it was a million times easier with support, even if temporary and simple.

I stepped down into the kitchen and saw that my mom left money for food, but I decided to just make a sandwich and watch some T.V. I flipped through the channels as I sprawled onto the chocolate brown couch in the living room and saw another romance movie about a couple who were pretty much opposites but magically got along. I wanted to believe in that type of thing badly, but experience just suggested that the best romantic relationships were the ones that could be satisfying if platonic too. I lazily started to flip through the channels again when I got a text from Demyx.

"**Hey, lets get together early to rehearse. Your house?"**

"**Sure. Come over in like an hour." **I responded. I took a quick look around; the house was clean enough.

***

Demyx was on his keyboard that he brought over and I plugged my acoustic into an amp in hopes of getting a good balance. We were in my messy room with white walls, movies and music accessories lying around, and black bed spreads. I strummed a bit without saying anything and he immediately caught on; he was born to play music.

I only planned on playing three decently long songs, so for about half an hour, we just played. All three he was somewhat familiar with from rehearsals. After we wrapped up the last song, we smiled and gave each other air high fives so we wouldn't have to get up.

"I was thinking about playing the last song in a different key. Maybe key of A instead," I started.

"That would be cool," he responded tapping an A chord quickly on his keyboard.

"I was also thinking about playing lemonhead." I avoided looking at him as I said that and instead pretended to be focused on making chord shapes on my guitar.

"Really?" he asked with genuine surprise. "I guess we could, especially if we finish up early or something." I was glad he was such a laid back guy. You could come up with a weird idea, and even if he didn't necessarily understand, he would go with the flow.

A certain girl with lemon blonde hair already promised to be there, so I felt I would be satisfied even if she was the only of our friends who would show up. Still, I knew at least Sora and Riku would be there and probably Kairi, Axel, and Hayner too. Hopefully I'd be able to get a free drink or two for bringing in so many customers.

"Hey Demyx, feel like watching Wayne's World?" I felt as if a rock movie would help with warming up as well.

Demyx smiled brightly and responded, "Of course!"

***

It was fifteen minutes before Demyx and I were supposed to go on and we were sitting at a table with Sora, Riku, Kairi, and Axel inside Twilight Taste. Olette was there too, talking to her uncle. We were laughing and talking about how much school sucked, a typical teenage topic.

"So how many songs are you guys playing again?" asked Kairi.

"Three, maybe four," I responded looking at Demyx to get see an agreeing shrug.

"Yeah, they're pretty kickass," Demyx said nonchalantly. We all had a laugh and continued talking until five minutes before the start. I looked around to the door at this time to see Hayner, Pence, and Naminé all file in while looking around for us. I waved them over as Demyx and I got up, opening seats for two of them and grabbing a third quickly.

"Are you guys already going on?" asked Pence as the three sat down.

"Yep. Well, at least we're gonna get up there and get ready," I explained. Sora raised his hand for a high five and soon everyone copied him. Demyx and I laughed as we circled the table giving fives and then got up on the mini stage.

Thankfully, the people at Twilight Taste seemed to know what they were doing as they had pretty much everything ready and all we had to do was plug in and flip two switches. I pulled the mic towards myself and looked over at Demyx, who gave me an approving nod.

"Hi there, we're Demyx and Roxas, two of the members of the band Sonic Dawn. We have a few songs ready to play so go ahead and enjoy," I said, immediately starting the intro for the first song afterwards. It was a rocker turned acoustic, so to me it sounded funny but to the audience I'm sure it sounded like a lively acoustic song. I played through and I sang my favorite lines:

_**Cause it's who I want to be**_

_**It's just who I need to be**_

They fit in perfectly with my song about fitting in. There was an instrumental break during the song in which Demyx played a bit of a solo while I just strummed an easy pattern. I looked to the audience and saw our friends all enjoying the show. It made it easy to close the song.

The next song was a ballad kind of song. The lyrics were a little cheesy, but it was still a lot of fun to play. The piano was pretty epic. It really made me think that Demyx should always be on the keyboard. I looked at our friends again, and a few had started talking amongst themselves, but most were still watching.

The third song we played was another ballad sounding acoustic song, except more difficult. I could feel my hand slipping on the neck before even starting. I looked at Demyx with a fake smile and he returned it with a real smile and a nod to begin. I started the main guitar part, which was difficult, and a little choppy sounding, but still not out of time and Demyx played flawlessly thankfully.

When I looked at the table again, just Sora, Riku, and Naminé had their full attention on us. As the song progressed, they all turned to watch us again and I finished the song strong. Overall it was good enough, so I was satisfied with the light applause we got from the patrons.

I smiled and without even looking at Demyx, said; "Now we're going to play one last song." I finally did look his way and he looked surprised, but shrugged with a smile after I mouthed "Lemonhead" to him.

We started to play the song, which sounded better acoustic than electric I felt. It was fun and as I looked to the table once again, I could see everyone was listening pretty intently with smiles on their faces. Playing through with satisfaction, I ended the song.

_**I always dream of the next time**_

_**You and I will be together again.**_

We were met with warm applause once again to our satisfaction. Demyx and I air high fived and got ourselves off the stage with big grins on our faces. We walked over to our friends and pulled up some seats as a few gave us light applause.

"You guys were great!" Kairi said immediately.

"Yeah, you finished well with that lemon song again," Axel said, laughing a bit.

"Well we try…" I said with a smile, mocking myself faking modesty.

"Really though, it was great," Naminé said with a smile. I looked at her and when our eyes met, I had no reason to believe she didn't mean it.

"Yeah, can't wait till the next one," Pence added, putting his arm around Naminé. The two smiled and so did I, but I looked away.

"We should incorporate those ballad songs into our next show," suggested Riku.

"Yeah, that's a good idea," Sora said in agreement. The rest of the band nodded amongst themselves and I simply looked at them with smiles. I didn't really feel like I had much to say or sing about anymore.

* * *

**So this chapter focused on the relationship between Demyx and Roxas a bit and how they work together well and are casual with each other. Their history and such will come later though along with a few others characters's histories with Roxas. I feel bad about not putting this out as quickly as I hoped, so I'm gonna see if I can get the next chapter up tomorrow morning. All reviews and opinions of where this is going are welcome.**


	5. February 27th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Trio**

* * *

I was sitting in my English class, watching the clock, as there was only ten minutes of school left until the weekend. It was actually February 27th; tomorrow would be three weeks since my acoustic set. I knew that avoiding looking would probably help the time go by quicker, but I couldn't resist. Out of curiosity, I did a quick scan of the room to see if anyone else was as anxious as I was. What seemed like half the class was looking. It was pretty obvious at this point that our teacher, Mr. Zexion, was really stretching out the lesson plan.

He was a good English teacher though. He genuinely liked to read a lot and was pretty efficient about things. He could be kind of robotic, but he seemed to like me a little bit more than the rest of the class, so I may have had a different opinion than most. Hayner and Pence, who were in my class with me, certainly seemed to have different opinions than I did.

As I looked out the small window fixated on the door of class, I was shocked and relieved to see Axel. He had a smile on and dangled his keys in front of the window. I smiled as I comprehended he was going to wait out in the school parking lot and he walked away. As I looked back at Mr. Zexion, I saw he was staring right at me with a bit of a smug look.

"Sorry Mr. Zexion," I said, quickly composing myself. I felt my face heat up a bit, but ignored it and pretended to pay attention to my notes in response. I heard Hayner chuckle from a few seats away at the little exchange. I smiled to myself.

***

"Do you just want me to drop you off?" asked Axel as the two of us climbed into his red Pontiac.

I quickly took a look back at school and felt like it would be wise to go home and get some work done now so I could have a free weekend, but I figured I could push it off. "Naw, let's get ice cream or something."

"Cool," Axel responded with a smile as he turned the car on. Some alternative rock station came on. "You should call Xion, see if she wants to get any."

"Oh, good idea," I responded, proceeding to get my phone out and call. I had forgotten we'd talked about getting ice cream after finding out she had the same favorite flavor as the two of us.

"Hello?" answered Xion.

"Hey Xion, it's Roxas. I'm with Axel and we're about to get some ice cream, do you want to tag along?"

"Yeah, sure!" responded Xion. "I think I might have to leave early though, I kind of made some plans."

"That's fine, just meet us in the parking lot. You know Axel's car right?"

"The red Pontiac with you guys sitting in it?" Xion said slightly sarcastically. I chuckled at her tone.

"The one and only." After a few minutes, Xion found her way over to Axel's car, which was the only one of its kind. It seemed like every other car was either black or some shade of silver or gray.

"Hey guys," Xion said as she got into the car. "I've got an hour, is that okay?"

"Sure, no problem," Axel responded as he began to take off from the parking lot.

"Did you have plans or anything?" I asked, making conversation as we drove.

"I was just going to go hang out with my sister," Xion said. "We've been talking about just sitting together and watching a movie or something."

"How is Kairi anyway?" I asked, honestly curious, but not as much as a month ago.

"She's fine, hanging out with this Selphie girl a bit now. I've actually been teaching her to play the keyboard a little bit," Xion responded with a bit of surprise in her own voice. I had totally forgotten that Xion played the keyboard and piano, it was one of the first things we ever talked about when we met a few years back.

***

We were now sitting on possibly my favorite spot in town, the edge of the clock tower. Since it was still Winter, the sun was already setting despite getting out of school less than an hour ago. It was a little crazy eating ice cream when it felt so cold, but the sun still gave the town an orange glow.

"How's your sea-salt ice cream?" Xion asked, looking at Axel.

"Cold but good," Axel said before taking a bite.

"What about yours Roxas?"

"Also cold but, good," I said with a smile. "How's your sea-salt ice cream Xion?" I asked, slightly mocking her.

"Cold but _delicious_," she said in an exaggerated tone. Axel and I chuckled before looking out towards the sun again. It really was cold, but not unbearable. We were used to it.

Axel and I met the summer after my first year of high school. He was a friend of Demyx and I met him when I went over to Demyx's house once to jam. The two were playing video games and Axel was kicking Demyx's ass in the game. He kept saying his character's name, spelling it out, then saying "Got it memorized?" I thought he was abrasive but cool right off the bat.

*

"_This isn't even a competition anymore Demyx," Axel said. Demyx had just let me in the door and Axel was sitting on Demyx's couch waiting for him._

"_Yeah whatever… This is Roxas by the way," Demyx said, introducing me. Axel turned around to get a look at me as I gave a friendly wave. He just kind of nodded with a half smile. "I'll be right back," he continued as he went into his kitchen._

"_I'm Axel by the way," he said, reaching out his hand. I walked over and shook his hand as Demyx let me know I could just take a seat on the couch. "So how do you know Demyx?"_

"_We met in Geometry class," I said coolly and looking around the room. I felt a little awkward being left alone with him so quick._

"_Hey Axel, did you want a sea-salt bar?" Demyx asked from the kitchen._

"_Of course!" Axel said, brightening up._

"_What about you Roxas?"_

"_Yeah, I'd love one," I responded. Axel then looked at me in a bit of surprise. "They're my favorite," I explained in a matter-of-fact tone._

"_That's funny, they're my favorite too," Axel said with an excited grin. I was happy to see we had something in common. Demyx came back into the room with bars for the two of us and some snacks for us to share as well. We actually only jammed for half the time we were expecting; there was just a little too much fun to be had hanging out._

_*_

The sun was now completely gone and everything had gotten much darker.

"I have to get going now…" Xion said as she eyed her phone for the time.

"Your house?" asked Axel.

"Yeah, Kairi really wanted to hang out," Xion said with a lack of emotion. "She'll probably have some other people come too though, so you guys should tag along." Axel and I quickly exchanged glances of unsure looks. "It'll be fun."

* * *

**This chapter has actually been done for a while; I just never got around to posting it due to a bunch of friends coming back from college and having a crazy Thanksgiving week. Now that things are normal again the updates should come regularly again. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for reading and say I hope that you all had great Thanksgiving breaks. I also want to personally thank _Sato Tadashi_ for reviewing and being so kind with their words. Satisfied reviews help more than you know.**


	6. February 27th cont

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Telephone Pictionary**

* * *

Axel, Xion, and myself arrived at Xion's house pretty soon after Axel and I agreed to go. The sky was dark, but it was still early. It was only about five o' clock. Their house was actually painted light green and light blue on the outside depending on the wall; it looked like it belonged on the beach to be perfectly honest. We climbed out of Axel's car and headed inside. I had been inside their house plenty of times thanks to being friends with Xion, but I was always still impressed when I came in.

Furthering my point about the house belonging on a beach, the walls were all soft blue and had beaches, seashells, and even a sun painted somewhere in the living room. It always felt calm and authentic, which was refreshing. It was especially true now since it was still winter. The three of us hung our winter coats exposing Axel's bright red band shirt, Xion's navy blue cardigan, and my plain white tee over a black long sleeve tee. We walked into the kitchen to be greeted by Xion and Kairi's parents.

"Hey mom, hey dad!" Xion said happily, catching her parents' attention.

Her parents greeted us with happy smiles as Axel and I almost simultaneously said "Hey Mr. and Mrs. Panettiere."

Seeming to know instantly what we were up to, Mrs. Panettiere said "Kairi's upstairs, she should be down in minute.

"Cool," Xion simply responded as she started heading towards the dining room being followed by Axel and I. We sat down at her large dining room table, which was clearly meant for guests. Xion sat at the head of the table as Axel and I sat on one side. Before we said anything, Xion started, up again "Would you guys be interested in playing telephone pictionary?"

"What? Is that even a real game?" Axel snapped.

"Of course it is! It's really fun. Someone in my art class taught Naminé and I how to play." I had forgotten they were in art together, which was funny because they both clearly had a lot of natural talent.

"Okay, so how do you play?" I asked just as I heard someone walk in.

"How do you play what?" Kairi asked in a sweet tone. She had just come into the room with a pink sweater and gave us all a nice smile, focusing on Xion mostly.

"I'm explaining telephone pictionary," Xion responded.

"That's really fun!"

"Jeez, does everyone know how to play already?" Axel asked with a look of surprise.

"Well now you'll now too," Xion said in a playful voice. "Lets say there's eight people. The eight of us would sit in a circle and hold a pile of eight pieces of paper. On the first we would write a line from a movie or just something that can be illustrated. Next, everyone passes their pile over and using the phrase or description they just got, they have to draw a picture on the next sheet. Then we pass the piles again, and then we have to describe the picture we just got on the next sheet. Then the next person draws using that description on the next sheet. It continues until everyone gets their pile back and can see how far things developed page by page." Xion took a moment to catch her breath. "Got it memorized?"

Axel gave her a smug look before responding, "Yeah, I'd say so…"

"Okay I get it…" I said, imagining the game in my head.

"Sora and Naminé are on their way over, so it should be a lot of fun," Kairi said. I felt my heart skip a little at her words.

"I knew it! I knew you would call other people over," Xion said in triumph.

"Whatever," Kairi said, mocking her with a smile. Axel and I just laughed.

***

The four of us had just finished prepping when Sora, Naminé, and to my surprise, Pence walked in.

"Hey guys!" Sora said, starting off the exchange of pleasantries as he sat across from me and next to Kairi who seemed a slight bit nervous as he sat. I felt a little jealous, but now I knew my envy was of the situation, not the girl. Naminé sat to my right. We smiled at each other as she sat down in her white sweater as Pence sat wearing his basketball jersey on her other side, also giving me a smile.

I liked Pence a lot. I had known him for years already at that point. However, also at that point, I really didn't want to see him smile or make any other facial expression if it meant he was around along with Naminé. It wasn't something I was openly aware of though, I just felt that passion.

"So what are we playing?" asked Pence.

"Telephone pictionary, do you all know how to play?" Xion asked. The three newcomers all nodded in acknowledgement. I looked to my left at Axel and gave him a look that asked, 'Where have we been?' He gave me the same look. "We'll start playing clockwise."

Everyone started trying to think of good subjects, but I knew what I wanted. I wrote 'Man on the moon.' We passed our piles and Naminé's paper said 'Guy on a rollercoaster.' I did my best basically drawing a box with a stick figure's upper body sticking out with his arms in the air. For the railing I just drew a line across the paper. Axel could deal with it I figured.

After passing piles again, my pile was now at Xion. Naminé had gone all out with her time and drawn what looked to be someone playing the violin with a dog howling next to him. I wrote exactly that and we passed again.

I figured out my pile was now in Kairi's hands as Naminé handed me the pile she had on which she wrote 'Guy shooting missiles on a sunny day.' I drew a mediocre stick figure shooting out what could be mistaken as arrows. It didn't hit me until after I passed it that I forgot the sun.

My pile was now in Sora's hands and Naminé gave me the pile for which she just drew. It looked like someone wearing the British flag drinking a soda. I said 'British person drinking soda' and passed to Axel. His face was completely perplexed when he saw what he had to draw and I couldn't help but laugh.

My pile was in Pence's hands and Naminé gave me a pile for which she wrote, 'Guy playing guitar on moon.' I quickly drew a decent guitar in the hands of an astronaut. To further the description, I gave the land he was standing on a lot of holes to imitate craters. Axel chuckled and said, "Oh come one!" when he got the picture from me.

We were now at the final sheet for each pile meaning Naminé now had my pile. For the pile she just gave me she drew what looked like someone with obnoxious glasses eating something round. I guessed a hamburger and wrote 'A nerd eating a whopper,' on a leap of faith. We all passed the piles one last time and finally got our own back.

"So who wants to show theirs first?" Xion asked happily and relieved.

"I'll start," Sora said with a huge grin on as he was flipping through his pile. "My quote was 'Guy attacking from helicopter.' Pence drew this weird picture of this guy throwing shooting shaped missiles. The only problem is that he forgot the helicopter and threw in a sun for some reason." We all had a big laugh as he continued, "Naminé kind of caught on, describing it well enough. Then Roxas drew exactly as she described…" I felt proud at the comment and shot a look her way. Sora's final sheet said something about a guy eating square shaped cheese.

We then went through Pence's pile, which started with 'Guy playing music with his dog howling along.' Naminé nailed it and I followed exactly once again. His pile ended with something about a werewolf.

We went through Naminé's pile and everyone had a decent laugh at how Axel completely guessed wrong about my drawing. Hers ended with someone being chased by a yeti. Yeah… it was pretty hilarious.

We went through my pile, which had gone from 'Man on the moon,' to 'French man falling off tower.' It was funny to see how it pretty much no one was connected on that one.

We continued going through all the piles with great results. When we would get to the part where I had to work off Naminé's descriptions and pictures, I was always dramatically more accurate than any other person. Sora working with what Kairi gave him was my only competition in that sense.

"Alright guys, we have to play this again and with different seats or something, Roxas was totally giving me nothing to work with," Axel said in a playful tone.

"As if you were much better," Xion joked laughing at her pile.

"It was really easy to work with Naminé though," I piped in. She immediately gave me a grateful look.

"Yeah, I could say the same about Kairi," Sora said. Kairi blushed softly at this. Sora shuffled in his seat and said, "Movie you guys?" Everyone unanimously agreed and we headed into the living room to see what Xion and Kairi had to watch.

"Hey, next time I should get your descriptions and drawings, we could probably do good either way," Naminé said with a smile as we all got out of the dining room.

"Yeah, Axel just likes to complain," I said quietly. She laughed as Pence grabbed her hand to lead her, apparently unaware of our quick exchange. I felt myself frown and looked up as Axel moved pass me, giving me a knowing smile as he did.

* * *

**Sorry if I went overboard with the game, I've been obsessed with it lately haha. Still, this chapter was about character development and a peak in the household of Xion and Kairi. I thought the last name thing was a good idea haha. Something small that's important to keep in mind is that Roxas explained how he realized how he didn't really want to be with Kairi in this chapter. Also bear in mind this story is supposed to take place over a year (in their world, not real life) and is about 1/6th of the way through. Though I'm certainly not saying that all aspects will take the whole year *wink wink*.**


	7. March 13th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Strange**

* * *

Friday, March 13th, was definitely a day that lived up to it's billing as a day of unusual events. I always felt like Friday the 13th was actually lucky for me. Despite 13 usually being an unlucky number, it usually seemed to be MY number. I even wore number 13 when on teams. This day, I felt as if I was certainly unlucky. Even though it felt like I was always due for a weird day at least every once in a while, today was an especially weird and eye-opening date. The next day, it was Naminé's birthday.

I woke that morning at my usual time and went through the usual process of getting ready for school. I just sat up, strummed on the guitar real quick showered, and picked out clothes. To go with my usual mockery of superstitions, I decided today I'd wear this black baseball jersey I got had that had 13 in roman numerals on the front (small and over the heart) and back (large and obvious). Baseball wasn't my favorite sport, but it was the one that I was best at so I played with local leagues form time to time, mostly with Sora. This one in particular was from playing with The Incompletes. I went downstairs and the first weird thing happened.

"Hey mom, did you make anything for breakfast?" I asked as I wandered into the kitchen. There was no response, but I knew my mom was at least on the first floor. "Mom?" I called out.

"Roxas. Sorry. I'm over here," my mom said as she made her way out of the dining room. "Just looking through some mail." The only time my mom seemed that intent on reading mail was when it was an important bill. I knew money was getting pretty tight, but it was the middle of the month so it was really likely it was something else entirely.

"Anything interesting or for me?" I asked casually, peeking in the fridge while hoping my mom would answer both parts of the question.

"No," she stated simply. My plan didn't work, but I could still find out if she was doing okay. I poured myself orange juice, got some fruit and sat down at our kitchen table, which my mom was also sitting at now. She was just kind of staring, obviously thinking.

"So… how's work?" I asked. My tone was a little flat and probably came off as uninterested, but I just wanted her to talk a bit.

She shrugged a bit and seemed to loosen up at the question as she said, "Just the usual. What about school for you?"

"The usual too I guess," I responded, also shrugging. "So…" We continued to talk without actually saying much literally, but my mom's body language kept giving me a vibe like she was preoccupied, but she never seemed to be completely overwhelmed, which I was glad about.

"You're going to wear that today?" my mom asked smiling, finally noticing my jersey.

"Yeah, 13 is my lucky number!" I said excitedly as I realized again that I was wearing it with a hooded fleece over it.

My mom just shook her head with a smile and then asked, "Is Axel picking you up again?"

"He should be here soon actually," I said as she had diverted my attention away. I got up to look out the window and saw his car turn onto the street. "He's here now actually," I said, grabbing my stuff.

"Have fun at school. I love you son," my mom called out.

"I'll try. Love you too mom," I said walking out the door. My mom didn't usually say I love you without some kind of buildup ahead of time. It was nice, but a little weird.

***

"Everyone get into teams of four!" Mr. Martin yelled. After some shuffling around, Sora, Hayner, and myself were all standing together but Riku was absent from our group even though we just saw him.

"Hey, where's Riku?" asked Hayner, looking around. Sora and I shrugged as we looked as well.

"There he is," Sora pointed out, nodding in the direction Riku was walking. Riku was actually walking towards Seifer, someone whom Hayner and I had always been at odds with.

"What the hell?" I said in total shock. Riku seemed to say a few things to Seifer who shrugged with a 'Why not?' look on his face. Wanting to immediately forget what I just saw, I continued, "Let's just get someone else really quick."

The three of us looked around a bit before picking up this guy nicknamed beef, who was pretty athletic but a bit antisocial. He would do for whatever we were playing.

"Alright, we're playing four on four basketball with some a ladder system," Mr. Martin announced. He randomly picked out courts for teams to play on and we unsurprisingly were set up to play against Seifer, Riku, and Seifer's two friends.

"Well, if it isn't 'Rockin' Roxas'," Seifer said, with not even an ounce of amusement in his voice. I chuckled sarcastically.

"Let's just play," I said as Hayner ran over with a ball to play with. I looked over at Sora who seemed excited and was glad to see that. I then looked over at Riku in confusion and was surprised to see he seemed excited too. I was still completely confused as to why he wanted to play with Seifer.

*

After playing about four games, with half of them being against Seifer's team, class was over. I exited the locker room to wait in the athletic hall. We had to wait until the passing period bell rang before we could actually get moving. As I entered the hall though, I saw Sora and Riku talking about 20 feet away. I couldn't hear what they were saying. Sora seemed to be mostly listening with a pleading look on his face while Riku looked like he was venting something.

I started walking over their way when the bell rang and the hall full of teenagers started emptying out into the main hallways. Riku immediately began walking away while Sora seemed to look after him with a dejected look on his face. I tapped him on the shoulder. He spun around quickly with a deep thought look but then smiled.

"Hey Roxas," Sora said with a smile.

"Hey Sora. Hey, what was up with Riku?" I asked with a serious look on my face.

"Riku? He's just got something on his mind I guess…" Sora said, looking back in Riku's direction but then quickly looking back at me. I just kind of blinked and looked after Riku as well. "Let's go," Sora said as we started walking. "Practice this Sunday right?" he asked trying to divert our attention. I nodded. This was the second out of place thing about today.

***

I was now in Twilight community mall with Axel and Kairi and expecting Sora to make an appearance later too. We were supposed to be looking for gifts for Naminé but Kairi and I already picked up stuff to get her. It was mostly for Axel and to have a fun Friday.

"Do you think she'd like this?" Axel asked as he held up a purse made of recycled goods.

"I don't think she'd mind it, but it's something she'd probably want to get herself," Kairi said with a supportive smile. I chuckled to myself before looking around again. We were in a 'Chester's Gifts' which was pretty much a stoner's gift store. Some of the stuff was genuinely interesting or funny, but there was a lot of crap too. "What time is Sora coming again?" She had already asked twice by then.

"He should be here any minute now" I answered, taking out my phone to check the time. "Excited to see him?" I asked playfully looking towards her. She just kind of shrugged a bit with a smile.

Pretty much on cue, I got a text from Sora. **"I'm here. Where's Chester's?"** Sora didn't know this mall as well; we usually went to Twilight Town's mall instead but made an exception to look for gifts.

"**Meet me in the food court." **I responded. I figured I'd just kind of pick him up. "I'll be right back," I quickly called to Axel and Kairi. They nodded slightly curiously as I left the store.

I started walking quickly towards the food court, which required me to go from the first floor to the second floor. I got on the escalator and did a double take as I saw Xion in the mall's bookstore, which was just 20 feet from the escalator. A smile crossed my face as I decided I'd see her.

I walked in after getting off the escalator and walked up to her as she was looking at the classic's section. "Hey Xion," I called happily.

She looked up and a smile immediately plastered across her face. "Hey Roxas! What are you doing here?"

"I'm meeting up with Sora," I said in a matter of fact tone. "I was actually hanging out with your sister and Axel too."

"Oh yeah, they said they'd be shopping for Naminé… I guess they came here then," Xion said with a tone of revelation.

"Yeah, Axel keeps picking up the most random stuff," I said making an annoyed face. Xion laughed at my expression. "I think they both said you'd be busy with school or something though, that's why I didn't call or text you.

"Oh yeah…" Xion said with her smile fading and quickly looking around. "I finished early and said I'd meet someone here in the mall. Sorry, I think I've gotta go. I'll talk to you later." She immediately scurried off after just a quick wave.

"See ya…" I said watching her walk away. That was the third weird thing. Before I could put any real thought into it, I remembered I was going to meet Sora and went on my way.

* * *

**So all three strange events were hints to future chapters. Obviously it's also important that this chapter takes place the day before Naminé's birthday. Although nothing immediately plot changing took place, I still think this was a good chapter. All reviews are welcome and thanks for reading!**


	8. March 14th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Naminé's Birthday**

* * *

It was March 14th, Naminé's birthday. Oh boy… The day completely confused me, and at the same time completely lifted me up. It's funny to look back on it now…

"Damn," I muttered as I lifted my head from Sora's spare pillow. I noticed that I'd drooled on his pillow a little. Thankfully he was still asleep though, I was positive he'd poke fun at me for drooling. I flipped the pillow over as I sat up and looked at the clock. It read 11 A.M., which was later than I was expecting. It didn't matter too much though; we didn't plan on going to Naminé's little get-together birthday dinner for another 7 hours.

I grabbed one of Sora's practice pads for drums and a pair of sticks and just started playing away. Although playing guitar and piano was what let me be the most creative, drums were undeniably fun. I noticed Sora move in his bed a little as I purposely got a bit louder. I kept playing until Sora spoke in a low and groggy voice. "You're really terrible," he said, still looking away. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Excuse me for not having taken lessons for how ever many years," I retorted playfully. "Do you want to show me how it's done?"

"After breakfast," Sora said as he finally sat up. His eyes were half open and only half of his face smiled as he scratched his head. He was an image of a lazy morning. "You mumbled in your sleep again."

*

"Did you get Naminé anything?" Sora asked as he shoved a spoonful of Frosted Flakes into his mouth. He and I were sitting at his kitchen table, enjoying brunch. His parents were out, but his mom always stocked up on snack foods. Even though we both were eating cereal, we had a plate of bagel bites too.

"Yeah, I got her a Nemo," I responded, also digging in.

"A what?"

"I got her a plush of Nemo, from the movie Finding Nemo."

"Really?" Sora said with a grin.

"Yeah, it's her favorite Disney movie," I said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh yeah…" Sora said as he looked to the ceiling, obviously having a flashback. "I remember her mentioning that now. Either she told you again recently, or you have a good memory."

"So you're just going to put both of your names on her gift then?" I asked, changing the subject.

"Yeah, Kairi picked out some shoes she said Naminé had been wanting and we split the cost."

"Ah, okay…" I responded, grabbing a bagel bite. I looked at it analytically as I thought about yesterday again. Now was a good time to get another opinion. "I saw Xion yesterday too."

"You did? Before I got there?" Sora asked as he drank some orange juice.

"Yeah, she seemed to be acting a little funny." I thought of how she kind of ran off.

"Like Riku?" Sora questioned.

"I guess, but she seemed to be in a pretty positive mood, unlike Riku."

"Hmm…" Sora mumbled as he stared at our plates. "Well if she wasn't invited by Naminé herself, I'm sure Kairi will bring her tonight, so we can see what's up then. I asked Riku to come along too," Sora looked up at my expectant face and continued, "he seemed a little off still, but he was up for it. Naminé said we could invite extra people as long as we don't go over the top. I figured he'd be a good option."

I simply nodded in response as my head slowly sulked down. Sora and I sighed at the same time. We looked at each other and had a good laugh. I went through names in my head, but a lot of people who I would've liked to invite, like Hayner or Axel, were more my friends than Naminé's, so I figured I'd just go. I looked around Sora's kitchen and my eyes froze on his family portrait hanging by a magnet onto his fridge. I sighed once more.

***

"Feeling a little quiet back there," Sora called as he looked at Riku in the back of his car with his rearview mirror.

"Just a little," Riku responded as his lips curled into a bit of a smile. As I saw him through the side mirror, I could've sworn I saw him flash a look in my direction. I just ignored it.

"So did you guys think about what you'll be getting already?" Sora asked plainly.

"Did you already think about you'll be getting?" I asked with a smile creeping onto my face.

"Maybe," Sora responded, keeping his eyes forward.

"You would," Riku joked. The three of us had a big laugh as I realized where we were. We were in the parking lot of the Blue Lobster, Naminé's birthday restaurant choice.

"Hey, there's Hayner and Olette," Sora pointed out as he parked. I looked and saw them walking into the entrance together, both looking a little more well dressed than usual and obviously enjoying each other's company.

"Huh… I guess it's kind of a good thing I didn't invite Hayner along," I observed. Sora chuckled as he turned off the car and we filed out to follow quickly. I looked down at myself and felt good about my choice of wearing a nice blue polo shirt. I gelled my hair a bit too to give my mess of hair some order. It was still wild and spiked, but with more purpose.

We walked in and immediately saw why Naminé chose this place. It was just flat out nice. The main color was red, and it really looked like it was meant to feel like a fishing shed by a coast, but fancier. I'm sure Kairi and Xion would love this place. The designers clearly succeeded in their attempts to catch the feel, and I was still looking around, when we were greeted by a host. "Can I help you gentlemen?"

"We're here to meet up with some friends," Sora answered casually.

"Yeah, two people who were here for the same party just got here," I added.

"They went right over there," the host said as he pointed out Hayner and Olette sitting down at long table made of conjoined square tables. We immediately started following as I noticed who else was here. As expected, Kairi and Xion were here. All the girls looked formal, but still themselves. Kairi and Xion were wearing pink and purple, respectively, and Naminé was wearing a happy yellow.

Instinctively, my eyes stuck on Naminé as we reached the table and were greeted immediately. I tore my eyes away from Naminé so I could greet everyone else too. I couldn't help but notice that Pence wasn't there.

"No Pence today?" Sora asked, practically reading my thoughts.

"No, he's feeling really under the weather," Naminé answered, clearly disappointed as she looked down at the table with dull eyes.

"I went by his house today actually," Hayner added. "He did look pretty terrible."

"Poor Pence," Kairi said, sympathizing as she looked at Naminé.

"Well, I'm sure he'd want us to have a good time, so lets eat extra as if we're eating Pence's share too!" Sora encouraged. We all had a laugh and got things going again.

*

"I really think he probably used to be a surfer," Hayner said with assurance.

"How do you figure?" Riku asked.

"Just the way he talks. I mean he stretches out pretty much every word in this raspy kind of voice," Hayner explained. He was talking about one of the town's new struggle organizers. Since Hayner was always a fan, he was pretty updated on everything on struggle; or at least in Twilight Town anyway. "Are you gonna do struggle next month Roxas?"

I drew a breath then responded, "Maybe, I'm not too sure yet." I flashed a look around the table and everyone, including the girls, seemed interested in my future in Struggle.

"Come on, I'm doing it. Plus there'll be prize money too!"

"Really?" Sora cut in. "I'm a little low on munny, it might not be a bad idea for me."

"That would be great!" Hayner said excitedly. I saw Riku raise an eyebrow and his lip curve.

"Plus it's not like I've never played before," Sora added, defending his case.

"Anyway…" Kairi said, diverting our conversation. "Do you want to open some gifts now Naminé?"

"You guys got me stuff?" Naminé asked with genuine curiosity.

"Of course, you only turn 17 once!" Olette added as she rose and walked over to Naminé, gift in hand. Naminé's face turned excited and expectant as she was handed a silver bag with white tissue paper. Thankfully we all were smart enough to get bags since we anticipated Naminé opening gifts in the restaurant. Naminé pulled out a few movies, all comedies and all pretty recent ones too.

"Thanks!" she said, a genuine smile on her face that made my stomach churn.

"They're from myself, my mom, and Hayner too," Olette explained.

Olette gave Naminé a quick hug before sitting down again. Kairi then kept the pattern going and handed Naminé the bag holding the gift she and Sora got her. Naminé took opened the bag and box to get a look at the shoes which were white heels that would reveal a lot of her feet when worn. I really didn't know anything about girls' fashion, let alone shoes, but she looked very excited to wear them. Kairi was obviously happy that it went over well. Sora too, but I have to say, he looked a little smug also.

I went ahead and handed her my gift next, once her shoe excitement had died down of course. "This is from me. I hope you like it," I said with honest fear that she might not.

She gave me a comforting smile as she pulled out the Nemo plush doll that I bought her and her eyes lit up like those of a kid. "Roxas! This is adorable!"

I just shrugged with a smile on my face as she turned the doll over in her hands. I felt good.

*

We were in the parking lot and I was helping Naminé to get her stuff in the back of Kairi's mom's car. It wasn't easy to see if the ground was wet or not as it was pretty dark out. Naminé had also gotten a nice bracelet from Xion, Axel, and Riku after my gift. Again, I didn't know much about girls' fashion, but I was sure Xion had picked it out.

"Did you like all your gifts?" I asked, closing the door after giving a quick goodbye to Kairi and Xion.

"Yeah, definitely! I love you guys," Naminé said as she wrapped me in a hug. It was a little unexpected, but I welcomed it wholeheartedly.

I chuckled a bit as we separated and I got a good look into Naminés beautiful blue eyes. "I'll see you Monday if I don't see you tomorrow!" I told her excitedly.

"Of course! Just call," Naminé said as she opened the passenger door and gave me one last meaningful look.

"Bye," I said reluctantly.

"Bye" she answered, finally looking away and climbing into the front. Her smile stayed with her the whole time. I walked towards Sora's car, feeling like I was flying instead.

The drive home consisted of playing the radio loudly, and not much talking. We were all tired, but satisfied with the night. I kept thinking about one little incident though…

When the waiter asked us if we wanted desert, he suggested ice cream. Instinctively, Xion and I looked at each other with smiles on. It was just a tongue-in-cheek joke though as both shook our heads along with everyone else. As I looked at Riku though, I swear I was sure I saw annoyance in his face. As I looked back at Xion, she still had this warm smile directed at me.

* * *

**Sonic Dawn is officially not on hiatus anymore! I'm honestly and incredibly sorry for the break. A lot of friends came home from college over the past month and I did what Sora would do and had fun with my friends haha.**

**A nice night that ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. Although this chapter seemed mostly filler, it once again was carried by character development and will be referenced later of course.**

**I'm also changing chapter names with the date the chapter takes place in and giving each chapter a title too, including past chapters.**

**I also want to thank Sato Tadashi, glos-peach, and xforgottenmemories for reviewing. xforgottenmemories, I'm really glad you like it so much!**

**All reviews are welcome, as always.**


	9. April 1st

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Sunset**

* * *

'_BZZT!'_

'Who could be calling me now?' I thought to myself. It had to be earlier than 6:15 A.M. since that was when my alarm was supposed to go off. Behind my closed eyelids, I could barely tell that the sun's rays were seeping through my gray drapes. I reached to my nightstand desperately to see who it was. I wasn't shocked at all to see that Sora was calling me at 6:10 A.M.

"Hello?" I answered quietly.

"Hey Roxas," Sora started readily, "why wouldn't the skeleton cross the road?"

I refused to respond. I did grunt though, but probably out of annoyance.

"Because he didn't have any guts!" Sora said, his grin obvious by just hearing his voice.

"Sora… you're a huge dork," I responded, my voice magically louder. I didn't even have to think about it honestly; my body just knew I wanted to tell him off.

"I'll see you at school!" Sora said between muffled laughs.

*

After a quick breakfast of eggs and toast, I was quickly getting ready so I could be ready when Axel came to pick me up. I was in the process of getting a jacket from the coat rack when I caught site of my mom just sitting on a coach in the living room. I couldn't tell if she was reading a magazine, looking at her phone, or just sulking as her back was to me. Before I could wander over and ask though, I got a text from Axel saying he was outside. I simply said, "Bye mom!"

She turned quickly to respond, "Bye Roxas! Have fun at school," as I made my way out the door. The cool air of outside was brisk and, combined with the almost completely melted snow, reminded me of how close we were to shorts and t-shirts weather. The sun was beating down hard and I could barely see Axel fiddling with radio as I approached. I opened the passenger door and was greeted by a very happy smile.

"Morning Roxas," Axel said happily, just looking up after settling on a decent rock station.

"Hey Axel…" I said warily. My eyebrows were furrowed as I tried to read his mood and a slight smile tugged at my lips. "You seem happy."

"I am happy; I got some good news this morning," Axel explained as he pulled out the driveway.

"What's up? Did you win the lotto or something?" I prayed that it wasn't an April Fools joke.

"Unfortunately, no. What's actually happening is my cousin is coming to visit!" Axel revealed happily.

"Your cousin Lea?" I asked in honest surprise.

"The very same." I had heard plenty of stories of Axel's cousin Lea. I always imagined Axel to be the main character of these Lea's stories, and what was funny was that they all seemed like things Axel would do or get into. I'd even seen pictures of Axel's cousin and he looked a lot like Axel. Their features were identical; Axel's features were just more mature since Lea was a year younger than I was, putting two years between he and Axel. This was very cool to hear.

"I really want to meet him!" I said excitedly.

"This weekend my friend, this weekend. Got it memorized?"

I chuckled softly at his question. "Yeah, of course. He should be cool." I then remembered what else was supposed to go down this weekend. "Do you know if he plays struggle?"

"I asked him about it once actually, and he told me he's never played. He's wanted to give it a try, so I think him checking out the tournament this weekend could be a good idea." Clearly, Axel and I were on the same page.

"Cool, cool. Me and the rest of us participating are going to head down to the town center to sign up today actually."

"Afterwards give Xion or I a call; she wanted to spend some quality time together."

We would only have a little time together, but this was clearly a perfect chance to see what she was up to lately. "Cool, I'll give one of you a call right afterwards."

***

Most of the April Wednesday passed uneventfully. The main difference was the surge in bad pranks and even crappier jokes. Kairi actually seemed to find Sora's bad jokes funny for some reason. My reasoning was that she found them cute when he was saying them. Still though, she only served to encourage him.

At the moment, Sora, Riku, Hayner, and myself were on our way to Twilight Town's town center in order to actually be registered for playing struggle this weekend. We were being driven by Sora, and it was obvious when we were getting close because the Town seemed to become distinctly simpler. In fact, the town center only had a path for a trolley train (which we took), the rest of downtown was meant to be traveled by foot. Sora and I did skateboard here from time to time though.

We reached the yellow town center building and were immediately greeted once we entered the office building painted yellow and orange by a middle-aged woman at a desk. "Hello gentlemen. Are you here to register for the struggle tournament?" She was good at her job.

*

"We should check out the arena while we're here," Hayner suggested. He had a smile of excitement on his face. The others all nodded and grunted in approval, but I remembered that I had other plans.

"Actually, I'm supposed to meet with Axel and Xion, I'll have to see you guys later." The three of them didn't put up a fight, and kept on their way after I told them I'd get a ride with Axel. Sora was hesitant since I hadn't called Axel yet, but I assured him I'd call him if necessary. Riku didn't even look back at me though.

I called Axel as I leaned back against a wall, watching as people moved peacefully around. By the third ring, Axe answered and I noticed the sun was going to set in less than an hour. "Roxas, good to hear from you. Are you free now?"

"Yeah, I am. Can you give me a ride? I'm by the town center."

"Actually, Xion and I wanted to meet you atop the clock tower." I forgot about the clock tower. Axel knew what I had in mind next. "We picked up some sea-salt bars too. We've got them in a cooler."

"Sweet!" I responded happily. I was anxious for a sea-salt ice cream bar now. "I'm on my way."

"See ya soon Roxas." I didn't even bother responding as I immediately started rushing towards the clock tower. I decided to take a side street in the hopes of getting there quicker and passed up a little back alley spot that Hayner, Pence, and Olette had been decorating. They wanted my help with it and even had padlocked the fence outside the entrance. They must've really liked it. I was in too much of a rush to take a good look though, so I ran past it as I reached the bottom of the clock tower.

I entered the main entrance of station plaza and was immediately greeted by one of the men who sold tickets. He had a bit of a gambling problem, but he was a cool guy, nonetheless, and he was always nice to me. I simply waved to him though as I made my way to the off limits stairwell. Since we were so well acquainted with the staff, they didn't care in the slightest bit. As long as Xion, Axel, or myself was with someone, anyone was free to go up.

I rushed up the stairs and burst out the door and saw Axel and Xion sitting on the edge of the tower already. The two turned around with big smiles as they moved apart, giving me room to be in the middle. I happily took the spot as the two greeted me and Axel reached into the little red cooler he mentioned earlier to pull out some sea-salt bars.

"So guys, what have you been up to?" I asked as I unwrapped my bar.

"Just hanging out I guess. Homework and all that bad stuff," Xion said with a smile. I laughed as I noticed that she seemed to be dressed… nicer?

"Same here, except I'm sure I didn't do as good of a job on the homework," Axel answered. We had a good laugh as we enjoyed our company and ice cream.

*

After something more than half an hour of talking about school, movies, and friends, the sun was barely visible. We had been done with our bars for some time and the fact that it was early spring was reinforced as I realized that the temperature wasn't dropping at such a high rate anymore. I let out a sigh, as I knew the sun had such a little grasp on us now.

Almost as if in response, Axel spoke up. "Hey, I need to make a call. I'll meet you guys down at the entrance alright?"

"Are you sure?" I asked in confusion.

"Yeah, I'll see you guys there; it's supposed to be a private call," Axel said as he got up and immediately started to head towards the stairwell. I was confused as I figured he'd get more privacy up here than down there. I figured he was probably calling Larxene.

"It's pretty isn't it?" Xion said, looking forward the whole time.

I let out a "Huh?" as I looked at her and then realized she was talking about the setting sun. "Yeah, it is." I smiled as I took a good look.

"You think Naminé is pretty too, don't you?" I was completely caught off guard as she said that. My attention immediately switched to Xion. I noticed that she was still looking forward, but no longer at the sun. She was looking down in a sulk.

I nervously chuckled; it was all I could do. "Naminé's a cool person."

"You're a cool person too Roxas," she said as a smile broke onto her lips.

"Thanks," I said, feeling uplifted by the compliment. "You're really cool too Xion."

"But not enough, I guess." Her smile had started to dwindle once again.

"Of course you're cool Xion!" All I knew was that I was trying to cheer her up. I hadn't caught on to what she was really trying to say.

"Then why not me?" she asked, finally looking me in the eye. Her eyes were bright, but not gifted with a happy heart. They made my own heart burst.

"Do you mean…?" I asked, finally getting it. She nodded. "Well… why now? What brought this on?"

She sighed as she looked away again, getting ready to explain. "About a month ago, Kairi and I were just sitting around at home and decided to watch a romantic comedy." She laughed at the memory and I laughed too. "I'm not going to bore you with the details, but it ended with the main characters, who were already friends, realizing that they cared for each other. The main message of the movie was to ask yourself about who was right in front of you and if they were the right one."

I nodded, starting to get it. I wondered if the same had happened to Kairi… "So you thought of me?"

"Immediately, yeah. I actually tried to think about what it would be like, and it just seemed like it would work." She smiled; then she looked at me again. "Really, think about it."

Heeding her advice, I did think about it. I imagined she and I walking together, holding hands. I imagined she and I seeing movies, together only. I imagined she and I always choosing to sit together, smiling as we did. I imagined she and I smiling as our faces came closer… all so easily. I smiled and Xion immediately picked up on it.

"See?" was all she had to say. I looked at her again. She was just my friend right? It was then that I realized why she seemed to be dressed nicer. She was wearing skinny jeans, and a thin sweater for spring that fit her well. I also realized at this moment she seemed to have grown her hair a little, so it draped onto her shoulders more like Kairi rather than stopping at her neck. Most importantly, her eyes looked more beautiful. I'd seen them filled with passion before, but never romantically aimed at me.

I smiled again, and then looked at the sun. "I don't know." The yellow, almost lemon colored sun finally disappeared, still illuminating the sky, but in a twilight with the moon. It was a new time. I looked at Xion again and let out a toothy grin as I saw her smiling at me. Her eyelids dropped and I leaned in.

* * *

**Cousin Lea? Struggle tournament? Roxas and Xion?!**

**Special thanks to glos-peach, xforgottenmemories, and Sato Tadashi once again for reviewing. I hope this answered your questions about Riku and Xion. Also, good eye xforgottenmemories with the family portrait thing. Since there's still 8 months in the story left, there's a lot more planned than the Roxaminé storyline.**

**I also want to say I'm open to suggestions for other characters who haven't appeared, like Xehanort's heartless, Xemnas, Terra, Aqua, Ven, Ansem, Tidus, Wakka, Selphie, other organization members, etc.**

**All reviews are welcome!**


	10. April 2nd

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Aftershock**

* * *

I just waited for something to go wrong, but nothing did.

I just started staring at my ceiling from my bed as soon as I awoke to my alarm without a struggle. The day before, my best female friend and I kissed and decided on giving us a try. The crazy thing was that it was so… easy? We just immediately melded and didn't have to play any games. It just happened naturally.

At that point, I'd only dated sparsely because I never found anyone worth being serious with. With Xion, the connection was there immediately from being friends. It was a real connection that I didn't second-guess; but there was doubt in my heart. I could only guess that part of my heart was staunchly waiting for someone else. I didn't really matter though; I didn't feel like it was going to get in the way of anything.

Getting ready to go to school was downright refreshing as I had this new energy about me. My hair felt stronger, my teeth felt fresher, and my clothes felt cooler. I was just wearing dark jeans, a black shirt, and a white jacket, but I felt great. Every step I took down the stairs to the kitchen felt like it had more reason behind it. My mother immediately caught on to my mood.

"You seem ready this morning," my mother said with a pretty and warm smile.

"Well today's a new day," I responded nonchalantly. My mother smiled again and sipped coffee from a mug as she leaned against the counter looking introspective. Without thinking it through much, I told her, "I kissed Xion yesterday."

Her eyes immediately widened and flashed to me as she separated the mug from her lips to speak. "You kissed Xion?" she asked incredulously.

I smiled to myself as I poured myself some orange juice. "Yeah." I didn't need to say much else; my smile did the talking for me.

"Are you two going to date now?" my mom asked, still shocked.

"Yeah," I responded simply. I chugged my juice.

"Just like that?" My mother was now smiling.

"Yeah," was all I had to say again as I smiled back. We both looked at each other with a quiet joy for obvious reasons. I felt good that it made us both smile like this. It was pleasant and felt like it should. We just had trouble doing this for a long while now. Breaking the homely feeling in the kitchen was my phone as Axel informed me that he was outside already. My mom and I hugged goodbye as I jogged outside.

I neared the passenger door, and to my surprise, saw Kairi sitting in the passenger seat. I gave her a confused look and she simply smiled and jerked her head backwards, implying that I should sit in the back. I did so and immediately understood why. Xion was in the back, behind Axel's seat. She gave me a broad smile which I returned as I crawled in.

"Hey Axel, hey Kairi," I said quickly, barely flashing looks in their direction as I sat properly. I looked at Xion smile at me and practically whispered, "Hey," to her.

"Hey," she said back softly. Barely even thinking about it, we leaned in for a decent peck on the lips.

"Oh my gosh… you weren't kidding," Kairi said, looking into the rearview. Xion giggled loudly and I smiled, comprehending Kairi's disbelief.

"I figured you might want to see your new girlfriend and her sister A-S-A-P, so I made a call and made it happen," Axel said as he drove. I could tell he had a smile on even though I only vaguely saw his face. As I looked back at Xion, it was apparent that she had been looking at me and had a big smile slapped on her face still. I could only return it.

*

"Are you ready for this?" Xion asked. I was confused at the question, but had an inkling that I knew what she meant.

"Ready for what?"

"Well we're going to psych which we have with Naminé and Riku and I haven't told them anything about us yet. Have you?" I could hear hope in her voice as she said that last part.

"No, but they're about to find out." I gave Xion an encouraging smile and took her hand as we escaped the craziness of the hallway and waltzed into our psychology class's room together. We entered knowing that Naminé and Riku were typically in class quickly. As expected, both Naminé and Riku were in the room already. Riku was standing over by Naminé's desk and the two of them were clearly talking idly amongst themselves.

Naminé noticed us first and had an undecipherable look on her face. Riku quickly caught on and turned his head to see us walking towards them. Although my gut wanted to keep my eyes on Naminé more, as I was sure Xion was doing, I couldn't help but focus on Riku's face more. Unlink Naminé, I could read his face. It was disappointed, shocked, and disguised by an intrigued smile, all at the same time.

"Hey guys," I called casually as Xion quickly gave a small wave, adding to my greeting.

"Hey…" Naminé said, a small smile on her face. Riku simply nodded, keeping his same face. There was a silent moment before Naminé shot a look at our conjoined hands. Xion and I smiled as she turned her head in a confused manner. I looked at our conjoined hands and opened my mouth to say something, but just ended up smiling and nodding, which Xion laughed at. I looked up again and saw that Riku's smile was completely gone and Naminé was looking in another direction completely. I felt my heart begin to beat erratically and felt blessed when Mr. Taylor walked in and told us all to take our seats.

Riku and I wandered to where our seats were and class proceeded like normal. I could've sworn that when I was taking notes though that Riku was flashing me looks. I could tell Xion was doing the same, but it felt like she was staring with the warmth of a summer day while Riku stared with the intensity of a winter blizzard. I don't think I'd ever anticipated the end of class like I did that day.

When class _did_ end, Xion got to the door first and anticipated me catching up to her with a smile. I rushed over to her in my desperation to leave the awkwardness of class; the only reason she was at the door first was because she sat closer to it and was already ready to leave. I put my arm around her and immediately started talking about a song I was writing that didn't exist yet. My desperate attempt at conversation worked at once, but as Xion was talking, I took a passive look behind us. I caught a glimpse of Naminé and she just seemed to be standing at the door of class like a beautiful diamond statue, looking after us.

***

"So you did know all along?" I asked Axel as I took another lick. He, Xion, and myself were all on the clock tower again, taking advantage of the warmth.

"All along?" Axel looked up pensively. "No, but she did let me in on it two days ago. I agreed to help-"

"Which is why you left at the best possible time." I finished for Axel.

Axel chuckled, as I seemed to have hit the nail on the head. "Exactly right." Xion, sitting to my left, let herself lean onto me as Axel confirmed my suspicion. Considering we were so high, she really must've trusted me considering we were sitting on the edge. It was comforting and encouraging at the same time.

"Everyone seemed to have taken it well today," I commented, trying to keep the mood up still.

"Except Riku and Naminé…" Xion said with disappointment. As she said that, I swore I could see Axel's body vibrate as he chuckled to himself. I thought nothing more of it at the time.

"They were probably really surprised. They'll get over it and welcome it later," I encouraged, hoping my exact scenario would repeat itself for them.

"Maybe a struggle match will help get out all the negative feelings," Axel suggested.

"Yeah, maybe…" I said absentmindedly. I thought of Axel's statement as a joke more than anything else.

"Kairi was pretty excited," Xion mentioned. "How was Sora?"

"Well, instead of seeing him at lunch, I kind of hung out with Axel and Demyx," I sheepishly admitted. "Just talking about when our next show would be." I thought of Riku and desperately wanted to not be in Sonic Dawn at that time. I just looked at the sunset and licked my ice cream.

* * *

**I'll admit that this was kind of a short filler, but I felt it was important to show certain reactions and to show how Roxas and Xion themselves actually felt. The next chapter should hopefully be out a lot sooner and will really move things along again.**


	11. April 3rd

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Lea**

* * *

I was casually eating grapes, letting their sweet bursts be distractions when I heard the doorbell ring. I had been home from school for less than half an hour, man he was fast. I made my way over to the large white door and opened it with the slightest bit of reluctance. As expected, Pence was on the other side with a big smile as expected.

"Hey Pence," I quickly greeted. There was a certain relief in seeing him at my doorstep again by himself. I only saw him and thought only of the Pence I knew.

"Hey Roxas," he greeted cheerfully. I motioned for him to come in and he did with little apprehension. He kicked off his shoes and faced the stairwell as he waited for me to take the lead. I immediately made small talk and asked if he wanted food or drink as we made our way to my room. When we did reach it, I sat down on the bed and let my back fall as Pence sat on my desk's chair, ready to take a look at my computer. "What specifically is the problem again?" Pence asked, already ready to help.

"It's just whenever I try opening any kind of recording program, it either freezes up immediately or won't record sound," I explained. "I haven't done any decent solo writing because of it."

"Oh, planning on going solo?" Pence said with a smile as he began fiddling with my laptop.

I laughed at the thought; I always preferred being part of a group. I could handle being in charge, but felt being a true solo artist would get boring fast. "Just trying to write some stuff to get my thoughts cleared up."

"Oh…" Pence said simply as he stared at the screen and tried to diagnose the problem or problems. There was a pause before he continued, "Are you excited for tomorrow?"

"To play struggle you mean?" I almost forgot that I needed to really get practicing.

"Yeah. Hayner's been really excited too of course." Pence chuckled at the thought. "Olette's been a little jealous."

I couldn't help but laugh. It was typical Hayner to get so hyped up about something, but it was part of what made Hayner who he was. "Well I'm sure he'll do well tomorrow."

"Yep," was all Pence said as he clicked around, clearly finding a lead to the problem with my laptop. I didn't mind the silence; it gave me a chance to ponder. I missed this. Just hanging out. I knew why this didn't really happen anymore, but I just pushed it out of my head, something that I'd been doing for a while longer than I should have.

"After the tournament tomorrow, you should come over and we can play some video games," I suggested hopefully.

"Really?" Pence asked, barely slowing from his work. His voice was distracted, so it was kind of unreadable.

"Yeah, we can shoot each other and fight each other. In the games of course," I said in a mocking tone.

Pence laughed audibly as he continued to stare. "That would be sweet. Just give me a call." He seemed to be exiting out of some windows on my screen and turned to say, "Done." He had a grin on his face and it felt nostalgic. "What are you going to do now?"

I looked out the window at the nice day and answered, "I'm going over to Axel's place. I'm going to meet his cousin." I smiled at the thought; there was no way this wasn't going to turn out to be a lot of fun. "You?" I asked, drawing my attention back inside my own walls.

"I'm going to go hang out with Naminé," Pence said passively. "We're going to watch a movie."

I stared at the floor as I imagined the two just sort of lazing around one of their houses contently. "That should be cool…"

"Yeah. We haven't picked out a movie yet, but we will right now. Do you need a ride to Axel's?"

I looked up again and he still had a light smile on his face. I didn't feel like driving and Axel could probably give me a ride home. "Sure, thanks Pence." I looked over his shoulder at my laptop. "For everything."

His smile grew larger. "No problem Roxas! That's what friends are for." I couldn't stop my lips from reaching ear to ear.

*

"I really don't know that much about him, but from what I've heard, he'll probably be like Axel but younger," I said as I explained my assumptions about Lea.

"Oh no, two of him?!" Pence said in a tone that mocked being horrified.

I laughed as we turned onto Axel's street. "Holy crap, two of him?" I said in tone that was half-serious. Outside of his red brick house, I saw he and his cousin Lea tossing a Frisbee back and forth. What was crazy to me was that Lea looked exactly the same as him except much closer to my height and with shorter hair. Axel was in blue jeans and a red t-shirt while his cousin was wearing beige cargo pants and an orange t-shirt. I was glad they weren't wearing the same clothes. Otherwise, I'd be a bit freaked out.

Pence pulled up to the curb and Pence and I threw each other incredulous smiles. "Good luck," Pence said quietly.

"Thanks," I said between chuckles. I got out of the car and Pence drove away waving as I noticed Lea was giving me an incredibly strange look. I was too far to completely read his expression, but it looked shocked more than anything else. I walked towards the two at a slow pace, my eyes mostly on Lea.

"Roxas! What's up?" Axel called loudly. I turned to him to respond and saw that he had the Frisbee and his arm cocked. Before I said anything else, he yelled, "Catch!" He then flung the Frisbee directly at me and I caught it with ease. I looked at it and noticed that it had a picture of a flame with a face. I let out a chuckle as I stared at the cool design.

"Ven?" The voice sounded like Axel's, but it seemed to high.

I looked up, not hiding my confusion as I looked at Lea who seemed just as confused. "I'm sorry?"

"Ven? That's Roxas!" Axel said slapping his cousin's back. "Roxas, this is Lea. Lea, Roxas."

I shook Lea's hand as a smile overtook his face, but he still had a furrowed brow. "You look so much like someone I know," Lea stated.

"Someone named Ven? Possibly from Radiant Garden too?" I asked, connecting the dots.

Lea scoffed at the situation. "Yeah actually. He's a friend of mine; a really nice guy." I nodded with a smile, undeniably intrigued by the situation. "Of course Axel here says you're a nice guy too." I looked up at Axel and he simply shrugged with a smile.

"Well it's cool to meet you Lea. Axel was stoked when he found out you were coming." The three of us chuckled. I had a good feeling about Lea; maybe because he reminded me so much of Axel. At any rate, we clicked pretty easily. We got to know each other fast as the three of us tossed the Frisbee between us casually and enjoyed being outside. He actually played guitar too, which was a nice surprise.

"I actually wanted to do struggle, but I found out it was only open to Twilight Town residents," Lea explained as we got on the subject of the next days tournament.

"Do you play with your friends back in Radiant Garden?" I asked.

"Sometimes, not as much as Frisbee though. Your doppelganger back in the Garden is always up for stuff like struggle and Frisbee." Lea proceeded to catch the disc from Axel as he was looking at me and explaining. He was good. "My other friend Isa, not so much," Lea finished as he launched the disc at me perfectly. "He does enjoy a good sea-salt bar with me though and doesn't mind getting in trouble, so I can't complain."

I shot a look at Axel at the mention of sea-salt bars and he looked back at me with a look that said something like, 'He's cool isn't he?' I nodded, as I knew that he knew that I comprehended our little exchange. I thought of the three of us, and Xion, eating sea-salt ice cream to celebrate after the struggle tournament. I then remembered I still had to practice. I caught the disc and asked, "Do you guys mind practicing struggle? You've got a kit of stuff right Axel?"

The two looked at each other and shrugged, clearly open to the suggestion. "Let me grab the stuff then," Axel said as he immediately ran into his garage. He popped out with four struggle bats, two blue and two red, and depressible guards. He tossed sets of guards to Lea and I, and the three of us put them on our torsos. "I'll take this one," Axel stated as he grabbed one of the red bats. "You'll take this one I assume?" Axel asked as he threw the other red bat at Lea with conviction.

"Of course!" was Lea's response as he took the bat happily.

"Roxas, which one would you like?" Axel asked as he held the two blue in his left hand.

I eyed them and didn't really notice a difference. "I'll take both!" I said in a joking tone.

Axel simply gave a mildly surprised look and tossed both at me. "We should take you on two at once then!" Lea happily agreed to Axel's suggestion.

"If you want to lose together," I said, blatantly bluffing. They took me up on it as we walked over to Axel's backyard and made the boundaries clear. As soon as we did, both cousins came charging at me. I wasn't ready at all and desperately rolled out of the way. As the two missed, I stood up properly and held both bats at the ready.

The two charged me again, swinging without real direction and I was able to hit both of them, Axel to my left and Lea to my right, with shocking efficiency. They let out 'oofs' as I fell back; ready to take them on again. They charged again and I completely deflated their guards while mine was untouched. The two took off their guards and rubbed their stomachs in shock and slight pain.

Why was I so good with two? I had suspected I was ambidextrous for a while now. The battle only confirmed my suspicions.

"Jeez Roxas, you're tough," Lea commented, stretching out his back.

"No kidding, when did you get so good?" Axel asked, still rubbing his sore abdomen.

"No idea…" I said. I suddenly felt a lot more confident about the next day. I had an idea of what to do with that prize munny.

***

"Poor Axel and Lea," Xion said over the phone. Even on the phone, I could tell she was stifling laughter. "Three times?"

I let myself laugh as I stared out my window towards the full and large moon. "Yeah, they never touched me once. I think I can actually win tomorrow." I couldn't believe that had come out of my mouth. I was playing mostly to do something fun and physical with my friends. Now that I knew I could win, I wanted to.

"Of course you can! I'll be cheering for you the loudest!" Xion sounded so chipper. I couldn't help but smile.

"Thanks Xion. I really want the prize munny. I could use it on a nice gift."

"For me?" I could tell that Xion was smiling to herself on the other end.

"Yeah actually." I couldn't tell if she would guess if I was being serious or not correctly.

"A 100 count box of sea-salt bars?"

I chuckled at the thought. I couldn't help but wonder if it was actually possible. "Yeah, we can have them together."

"Sounds like a plan. I really, really hope you win tomorrow now." Again, I could tell she had a smile on the other end.

"Thanks for the support," I said teasingly. I looked at my computer and sighed. "I'm going to hit the sack; I want to be well-rested for tomorrow."

"That sounds like a good idea." There was a pause, as I knew she didn't want to have to say goodbye first.

"Good night Xion," I said peacefully and in a low voice.

"Good night Roxas," she said reluctantly.

*

That night, I had one of those weird moments where you're not really sure whether or not you're asleep. I just remembered turning to my side on my bed and looking at my laptop. In my sleepy stupor, I imagined Pence sitting there again. He had a smile on as I returned the smile.

While I was still smiling, he dissolved into thin air and was immediately replaced with Naminé. My smile stayed the same as she revealed her perfect teeth. She too then dissolved and was immediately replaced.

This time, it was Xion. She was smiling at me. What frightened me though, was that her smile just slowly and ominously dropped. Soon her eyebrows scrunched together and tears fell from her eyes. My heart stopped beating and I jolted up as I realized what I was seeing and feeling wasn't real.

I was scared again to think that I heard a voice that I wasn't sure was real. Specifically, it was my mother's voice. It was nothing but murmurs. I tried falling asleep again and once again fell into a state of mind where I didn't know what was real. There was someone else sitting on the chair now.

It wasn't a friend this time. He looked a lot like me, but much, much older. He smiled at me and tears fell from my eyes. Despite the tears though, I was smiling. The man stopped smiling and looked out the window. I followed his gaze. All I saw was a bright white light and my heart started beating erratically. I sat up once again, finding it was morning and that my face was wet with sweat and tears.

* * *

**I want to immediately thank glos-peach, xforgottenmemories, Mr. Bean, Sato Tadashi, and poohbearlover95 for reviewing. You guys all inspired me so much that I wrote this all almost non-stop!**

**Since struggle involves orbs dropping, I had to edit it so that all you had to do was completely deflate an opponent's guard (think inflatable lasertag vest) to win. Being a guy, it was fun to write that part haha.**

**Did you guys like Lea? That part was a lot of fun to write. I plan on him being important and recurring while aiding a future plot point.**

**The dream sequence came together fluidly and quickly, I hope you guys like it!**

**After this next chapter, I'll be doing something different. What that is, you'll have to wait and see! I can promise it'll be revealing.**

**All reviews (or even kind words) are welcome.**


	12. April 4th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Struggle**

* * *

As I tried to regulate my breathing, I was already forgetting about the previous night's dream. Or was it a nightmare? Still, despite my intense concentration, I couldn't focus on anything as vivid as the sun was peering through the window. I of course recognized my friends and felt my blood run cold as I thought of Xion crying. Rubbing my face helped me remember that it was the present.

To be exact, it was 8:38 A.M. I figured my mom might have been up, so I took a chance and headed downstairs. I saw my mother sitting at the kitchen table in her pink pajamas and with her hair tied back as she watched T.V. and ate cereal. She emanated youth, as she looked so casual like a young adult. To be honest though, she really was young. She got pregnant with me right out of high school; meaning she was only 35 years old. She would've been completely out of luck if it weren't for my grandparents being so kind.

"Good morning Roxas," she said, barely turning her head to look in my direction.

"Hey mom," I muttered in response, still not having fully awoken.

"You're up early," she said before taking another bite, "is it because of the struggle tournament? When is it?"

Hearing that the struggle tournament was today sent a shock of realization through my body. There was no doubt I was awake now as my stomach churned with butterflies. "It starts at one in the afternoon." As I said the time, it just made things more real for me again.

"I should ask Mary if she and John are going to go for Sora…" My mother was clearly trying to figure out if she could set up a carpool with other parents. Sora and I had made it clear that we were going with Riku and Hayner. I imagined it would be more awkward in Sora's car than it would be in his parent's car though if Riku and I sat in the back together. I was glad that I knew Sora would probably pick me up first though.

*

"Hey Sora, are your parents going to the tournament?" I asked.

"Yeah," Sora confirmed without looking away from the road. "Why?"

"My mom just texted me to tell me that she's going to go." Sora chuckled lightly, still staring ahead as necessary. "I think half the people there might be there to support us."

"Well I think there's going to be a few more people than that," Sora said smiling. He turned onto Hayner's street at that moment.

"So a little less than half?" I asked rhetorically. Sora chuckled as we turned onto Hayner's driveway that led to his pale green house. His house was always a cool one to go to. His dad used to be in the military, so he had a lot of memorabilia of sorts hanging around and was always good for a story. Sometimes though, it would be awkward because we would be playing video games or something and he'd just start a story. We would have to pause and wait for him to finish. Otherwise, we'd risk being impolite.

Hayner ran out of his house immediately after we sent him a text message. He climbed in the back behind us and greeted us excitedly, giving us firm handshakes. It was nice to see him, but we still had one more person to go.

It wasn't long before we reached Riku's house. His house was simple and welcoming. It would've been really easy to miss if it weren't painted in both a vivid purple and sky-matching blue. Riku walked out casually with his hands in his pockets. Him leaving his house always proved how tall he was. As he opened his large wooden door, his head was always just short enough to fit the frame. He was half a head taller than Sora and I, but we never noticed outside of obvious moments like this.

Riku climbed in the back behind Sora and greeted all of us casually. I was sure that Sora was going to shake his hand, meaning Hayner would too, and meaning I would have to as well. To my surprise however, Sora immediately gunned the car onto the street.

"Hey, trying to win a race or something?" Riku asked, as bewildered as I was.

"Look at the time," Sora said as he was still backing out. The rest of us in the car all looked at the clock and noticed that the tournament was in twenty minutes.

"Of crap," Hayner muttered as Sora started speeding.

***

I could barely catch my breath as the four of us had just reached Twilight Town's main square where the tournament was. A town official that recognized us chuckled as made our way to the benches of the square that was opposite spectators. There actually was something like 100 people there. I was surprised, to say the least. I turned my attention back to the organizer of the event, a portly and middle-aged man as he said a name I recognized instantly. It was Seifer Friedle and I realized that the man was naming the first round match ups. I waited impatiently for my name. Sora and Hayner's names were called and the two

"… Roxas McCartney and Riku Gallagher…" stated the man loudly. I felt my eyes widen and let them wander across Sora, who was seated to my right, to Riku. He looked my way as well, sent a shiver down my spine, and gave me a genial smile. As he did so, the first match up took the square to applause and got things under way.

Riku and I was the last match up of the first round. The two of us took or places across from each other as we slid on our gear. I noticed that both the bats were on my side, lazily left there by the people before us. I imagined myself keeping both, but flung what looked like the stronger one at Riku like a boomerang. He caught it perfectly and didn't say anything. I looked to the crowd as we were announced ready and looked for Xion. I could see her waving and saw Kairi was sandwiched between her and Naminé. I couldn't see their face, but I could see them waving.

"Go!" the organizer yelled, bringing me back to Riku. We both started circling each other as he stared with an intensity I had rarely ever seen. I tried to stare with ferocity back at him, but wasn't totally convinced I was succeeding. He lunged forward and started jabbing at me in only moments. I considered stabbing to be a sort of cheap move, but dodged instead of complaining.

I tried rolling behind Riku to success and gave him a good blow to the back. As he turned around, I became the one who was doing the jabbing as I got in a good hit or two. Riku recovered no problem like I expected and we both just started going at each other. There was hardly strategy, just instinct as my blood was surging radically. I really was a good sport for giving Riku that club; it hurt more than usual. Either that, or Riku's strength was just something I couldn't get used to.

Before I knew it, the whistle signaling the end of a match was blown. It caught me completely off guard as I stood up again properly. Riku's guards had deflated completely. "Roxas McCartney continues!" the man called. The audience all cheered for me as Riku began walking off the square without a word, removing his guards as he did so. I gave a quick wave to the audience and saw two red haired boys standing as they were clapping.

Besides Riku, the rest of us who had come together moved on.

"Nice going Roxas," Hayner complimented excitedly as he pat my back when I sat down again.

"Thanks." I responded simply with a smile. I could see Sora and Riku talking, probably Sora telling him he did a good job, and the two laughing as they fist bumped. Riku didn't look our way as he made his way to the stands.

Hayner didn't catch on and continued with his evaluation of my performance. "Lucky Riku's so tall; it gave you a better chance to get in some good blows to what he couldn't guard." I chuckled lightly at the thought that his height gave me an edge. I think I would've lost if things were more even.

The next round I went against someone whom I didn't know at all. He didn't fight intensely as Riku though. It took much less effort to win. As expected, Sora moved on. The last fight was against Hayner and Seifer.

The fight was intense as they both were aggressive, mostly relying on strength. Seifer was a tough guy though, and he just hit harder. As the whistle was blown, you could see that neither one of them wanted to quit. Seifer was announced the winner as the two of them were still breathing heavily. The crowd cheered, but I was sure I could hear some boos from the crowd.

It was now the third round, and there were only four of us left: Seifer, Sora, an older gentleman, and myself. The gentleman looked a bit effeminate to be honest. I think his name started with an S. He and Sora were announced to fight first, leaving Seifer and I. Seifer looked my way and he had his tough guy face on. It was cold and dedicated, but failed to intimidate me.

Sora and the man fought, and I couldn't avoid admitting that Sora's athleticism was shining through. He rolled and guarded appropriately and was barely tapped. It was a short match, like Sora's other matches, and he proved victorious. His goofy, child-like grin extinguished the seriousness of the situation. As I looked to the crowd, I swore I could see Kairi standing and cheering.

Seifer and I walked to the square with conviction after our names were called. We took our positions and charged moments later as the organizer announced that we could start. As expected, Seifer tried to use brute strength. I took a page from Sora's book and avoided him as best I could, occasionally landing a decent blow. Seifer sometimes would catch on though and land forceful hits. I would actually be tossed backwards somewhat whenever I was hit.

After a couple minutes, Seifer's guard was almost completely deflated. He noticed as I jumped back to avoid a jab. At that point, he just seemed to throw even more force into his swings. I was only one good hit away from winning when he nailed me squarely in the chest. It hurt like hell; it was my punishment for not guarding an obvious swing. I overlooked the shocking pain and hit him with reduced force. It was still enough to get the whistle blown though to declare me the winner.

I slung off the used guards and rubbed my stomach soothingly. The crowd was cheering loudly, but a few people looked a little hesitant. I looked to Seifer, who was also casting off his guards, and he gave me another cold look. This time however, he nodded at me. I nodded back and he turned around to join the crowd. "The final match will take place in ten minutes," declared the organizer.

I wandered over to the now almost completely empty bench where Sora was sitting. "Are you okay?" he asked immediately.

"Yeah, just sore," I responded in a calm tone. I began to rub my stomach again.

"She'll make you feel better," Sora said with a smile.

"What? Who?" I asked. I followed his eyes and saw that Xion was making her way over at a quick pace. A few of the people in charge looked at her funny, but didn't do anything as she waved right at me and I waved back.

"Roxas!" She hugged me tightly as soon as she could.

"Hey Xion, I could see you in the crowd cheering," I said happily.

"Are you okay? It looked like you got a pretty nasty hit." Her eyes were genuinely worried.

"I'm fine," I assured her. We took a moment to smile at one another.

"Hey Sora," Xion greeted as she was obviously slightly embarrassed that she didn't say anything to him earlier. "Kairi is jumping in her seat watching you." Sora's face became elated at the news.

"I'm glad she's enjoying herself," Sora said, looking towards the crowd. "I hope you don't mind when I beat your boyfriend though." Sora looked at us with a confident smile, which I returned.

Before either of us knew it, Sora and I were on the square, staring each other down. Before we knew it, the final match began. Before we knew it, it was over.

Sora and I were both fast, and it showed as we were landing hits by the second. At multiple points, we would both try swinging at the same time and ended up hitting each other's clubs. Sora's recoil always seemed worse; was I stronger than him? It didn't matter though; he was just more purely athletic and learned faster than I did. I swung desperately as I did the math and figured that I would be losing soon.

My assumption was right and the match was over in barely three minutes. Seconds after the whistle was blown, the organizer announced, "The winner is Sora Osment!" Sora threw a triumphant fist in the air as the crowd was the loudest it had been all day. I shed my guards casually. I was just exhausted at that point.

***

I was now in Twilight Taste with Xion, absentmindedly staring at my coffee. The combination of enough cream to make it a very light brown and its swirls of bubbles made it look like chocolate milk. The wooden furniture and dark blue environment gave a sleepy air that matched my mood. We were speaking very casually, and Xion did most of the talking. She understood that I was tired. As Sora was given his extremely ornate trophy, Xion immediately came to my side and watched with me as Sora took the trophy with an unbreakable smile.

Of course as Sora came down from the impromptu we all greeted him happily. Kairi practically knocked him over as she rung her arms around his neck. We all had a good laugh at her shameless affection. It was a great sight though; I had to admit. Of course his parents and my mom gave us enormous hugs as well after the two reluctantly acknowledged the rest of us. Sora's parents were gushing with pride while my mom was affectionate.

Hayner and Olette held each other tightly and Xion held onto my arm, constantly telling me how impressed she was and how I did such a good job. Naminé and Pence were holding hands, but they had a different kind of energy. I couldn't put my finger on it. Of course, Lea and Axel tried taking the credit for my reaching the final match by saying they helped me practice. I could only laugh.

"You really did great today Roxas." I looked up from my coffee to see Xion smiling genuinely.

"Thanks," I said chuckling. "It was tough…" I started to let my eyes fall down to the coffee.

"I bet." I could sense she was still smiling with pride.

I thought about sleeping at that moment and tried to imagine what kind of dream I would have. The thought made me remember the night before. "Xion, are you happy?" My eyes darted up to catch her reaction. Her face was blank with surprise and curiosity.

"What do you mean?" she asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Are you happy being with me?" I asked. My eyes dropped to my cup and I felt I knew the answer.

Xion's had a face that said, 'I can't believe you're really asking.' She took my hand away from the coffee cup and rubbed my palm. "Roxas," Xion paused cautiously, "I love you."

I couldn't help but smile and look up. "I love you too." Xion's face told me her blood was rushing with excitement and her smile was of a joy born of young love. "I just had this weird dream last night…" I contemplated telling her exactly what happened, but something in me told me not to. I let my stare focus on my cup once again as I told her, "In the dream, you weren't okay. It just… made me sad." I couldn't help but be purposely vague.

I let my eyes wrench up and she had a sympathetic smile on.

My heart felt like it was sinking.

***

"Magic hour…" I whispered to myself as I typed the password to my email quickly. I couldn't believe I was still up since it was almost midnight, but something told me to check. "One new message…" I said to myself as I clicked. My eyes lit up and a smile spread across my face.

* * *

**Sora's the champ? A mysterious email?**

**But wait, there's more! I'm submitting two chapters at once to apologize for being so late to update.**


	13. May 29th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Summer (Naminé)**

* * *

"You must be pretty happy…"

My father's voice broke my train of thought and I suddenly became aware again that we were going home from school. "Yeah, I just want to go home and relax for a bit." My father's smile parted to let out a chuckle as I amused him as per usual. I loved my dad.

It was barely believable that the last day of school had just finished. As the trees and orange tinted buildings zoomed by, it seemed like any ordinary day. School was still school, despite the occasion. Although we didn't really do much in class, I still had work to turn in for multiple classes. Not surprisingly, the teachers that had assignments due were the ones that most students really didn't care for.

"What's Kairi up to?" my dad asked casually.

Still staring at the Town's plazas and streets, I answered, "She's at home, but will probably hang out with Sora later." After a pause, it was easy to assume she'd call. "She'll probably call Pence and I too."

"Ah…" my dad responded focused on driving. He liked Pence, but sometimes felt like we spent too much time together, even though we were casual. It was obvious he was thinking about that with his single worded answer. "And Roxas?"

I finally looked at my dad's face when he asked, mostly out of surprise. "Well I asked him the other day if he had plans for today and he just said he would be busy. He muttered something about shorts…" I thought of Roxas and his distracted smile when he mentioned the shorts. "Why are you asking anyway?" I asked, a slightly tense feeling in my chest.

My dad laughed softly, his face still healthy and pretty young, but his short and cropped hair visibly whiter than in his old pictures. He nodded off to his side and I realized we were passing the clock tower. "I just remember him whenever I see that tower. I was surprised he dragged you up there," my dad commented with respectful admiration in his tone.

"Yeah…" I said simply. It had been about two years ago when he took me there for the first of few times.

*****

"It's really, _really_ cool," fifteen year old Roxas said as we reached the sidewalk in front of our school and began our trek towards the heart of Twilight Town. It was the last day of school after our freshman year, and a week before Roxas said he wanted to go walk after school and show me something exciting. He wouldn't tell me what, so there was a whirlwind of ideas in my head for the whole week as I anticipated that day.

"It better be," I teased. A cute smile flashed across Roxas's face. At that very moment though, I didn't care if it wasn't all that cool. It was just too nice a day to be disappointed! I took advantage of the warm weather and wore a white sundress, my favorite choice. It was plain, but I kicked it up with nice blue flats and random colorful jewelry. Roxas looked comfy in gray shorts, black and white shoes, and a black band t-shirt with a blue logo on it. We actually might've looked like we were matching a bit at first glance. We also still were carrying our backpacks. Thankfully they only had stuff from our lockers, so they were extremely light.

"Yeah, Axel showed me it, and now I'm spreading the joy." Roxas looked perfectly content as he stared off in the distance. I realize now he was gazing towards the clock tower, but then I thought he was just letting his mind wander. His attention snapped forward as he suggested, "Let's go to Twilight Taste first."

"You want to get something to drink?" I was genuinely curious as to why he didn't want to show me the surprise right away.

"Yeah, if that's okay. Plus, if we time things right, things will turn out even better." Roxas simply smiled at me and there was a glow in his eyes when he did. It always showed up whenever he smiled at me like that.

After walking a few more blocks, we reached the old style building that always gave off that feel of sitting by a warm fireplace. It was pretty empty, so we sat in a booth next to a window that the sidewalk passed. It was too bright for the people outside to see us clearly, so sitting at the booth had the gimmicky feel of a one-sided mirror.

The two of us got cold caramel frappuccinos to relieve ourselves from the heat of early summer. It was great to be in the relaxed atmosphere of the café and still know that outside, the streets were bustling with the energy that warmth gives us. Roxas was nice enough to get the frappuccinos for both of us and it was obvious he was thirsty. He finished almost half of his drink without removing his lips from his straw once. It was an impressive feat that he didn't get a brain freeze from it.

"Why are you laughing?" he asked me suddenly with a cute smile on his face; his voice sounding saturated. To be honest, it hadn't occurred to me that I was smiling. I actually felt almost exposed.

"You're just really thirsty, aren't you?" I teased.

Roxas laughed lightly before answering, "Just a bit." He took another deliberate sip. "Can you believe we're done with school?" His face told me he was running through possibilities.

"Not especially," I said, chuckling. It was a recurring theme for me to not be able to believe that school was over. I loved the summer, so it amazed me that we could have so much time to enjoy it and not be stifled by school. "Any plans?" I asked curiously.

Roxas shrugged and looked like he was running more through his head before he answered. "Just to get together with the guys and do some songwriting." I simply nodded as I felt he had more to say. I was correct in my assumption, as he suddenly seemed to have an epiphany; it was funny to see. "I'm going to visit my grandparents too actually! They live in Radiant Garden."

"Really? I've never been there, but I always wanted to," I truthfully confessed.

"It's cool, Sora and I go most summers." Roxas looked contented by his memories. "The others, I just stick around and Sora goes to Destiny Islands with his parents."

"That's funny that you mention both those place because I know Kairi used to live in both cities." I remember Kairi telling me about her moving history and me being a bit envious. I really did want to travel.

"Yeah, Sora told me about how they met in Destiny Islands," Roxas stated as he rubbed his neck pensively.

"They're cute together, don't you think?" I couldn't help asking.

Roxas chuckled loudly. "Sure," was all he responded with. I laughed at the moment and sipped my drink happily.

"So is Sonic Dawn going to play any shows this summer?" Roxas's band had yet to play live and I just kept thinking how cool it would be for them to get things going with shows.

"Yeah actually. We're going to be reduced in size for the first show though," Roxas explained vaguely.

"What do you mean?" my interest had peaked.

"Well we actually intend on playing here a few times for the open mic nights they're having this summer. They only let two people up at a time though, so every time it would be someone else and I playing," Roxas explained.

"That's really cool, I can't wait!" I was genuinely excited for the news. I had only seen Roxas play the one time last summer. He always seemed to avoid playing casually if he could. I could kind of relate though, I always preferred drawing in private.

As if he could read my mind, Roxas asked, "How has drawing been going lately? I haven't seen any of your stuff in a while." He had a comforting smile on his face, and his eyes were glowing again.

"Pretty well," was all that came to mind at first. Roxas's eyes told me to keep going though as he nodded lightly. "I think I've really improved this year. Mrs. Gibson helped me a lot in drawing one. I'll hopefully be taking more art next year in school."

"That's pretty cool, but I'm sure you had an edge over the rest of the class," Roxas complimented slyly. I giggled lightly to excuse what was inevitable as my cheeks heated up a bit.

"Well everything's easier when you have someone to guide you," I stated, grateful to my teacher.

"Yeah, Sora's dad was the one who taught Sora and I to play our instruments. He still gives us lots of pointers."

"That's nice of him. You're dad doesn't play?" I asked before taking another sip.

To my surprise, Roxas's eyes dropped and he shook his head and shrugged. What was surprising was that he looked… uncertain? I had never really asked him about his dad, so I was afraid I had pushed a wrong button. I frantically tried to think of something else to say, but was cut off when Roxas looked out the window and a smile had crept onto his face again. "Now's a good time to get going," he said happily.

I simply smiled and complied. We headed out and though it wasn't clear in the café, it was clear now that the sun was almost at the horizon. The sky was already becoming a mix of orange and purple, and clouds seemed to have become their own shadows. The streets had gone from bustling to casual as people were starting to retreat to their homes or other places they could be stationary. It was a perfect way to start summer.

As we walked, Roxas had started up typical conversation again. He always had a lot of interesting things to say, but he always wanted to hear my side too. I could tell it was always genuine too. He would always nod for me to continue, he would look me directly in the eyes whenever I got to a good part, and he always asked well thought out questions. Whenever I didn't have much else to say, he could always fill the gap. We balanced each other's conversation well, to say the least.

When we finally reached the train station, Roxas spread his arms and said, "Okay, we're at the place, but were not _there_ there yet." I was bewildered at the time, to be honest. I was afraid that he was going to walk up to the clerk and ask for tickets. If he did, we would still have our backpacks, we'd have to call our parents, we'd be wandering in the dark, etcetera, and more etcetera. Thankfully though, he walked right past the clerk, but I was still totally unaware of what he had planned. We were walking towards one of those doors that have no signs and were always locked, and I could only guess at what was next.

There was a man with a goatee and pierced ears who gave Roxas a smile and a nod and opened the door we were headed to. Roxas took a good grip of my hand as he led the way. I remember the man had an entertained look on his face as we passed and entered what appeared to be a long and winding staircase. I moaned quietly at the unexpected task and swore I heard Roxas chuckle as he continued to wordlessly lead me. I quietly asked where we were going, but didn't get anything out of him. I was a little suspicious, but I trusted Roxas.

My faith was soon rewarded as we reached a door. "Here we go," Roxas said excitedly, turning to get a good look at my face. I just looked at him blankly and expectantly, ready for anything.

"Oh my gosh…" was all I could say as we walked out the door and found ourselves at the top of the clock tower. The purple and orange sky was like a mural, and the sun itself was like a bump on the horizon. "Roxas…" I said as I turned to him, trying to confirm that such a view was real. "It's _beautiful_."

"It's even more beautiful with ice cream," Roxas stated with a mockingly serious tone. I burst into laughter.

*

"…Maybe down the line. For now though, I do want to spend at least a few years somewhere else." Roxas was revealing his plans for living arrangements in the future. "Do you want to stay in Twilight Town forever?"

"Not necessarily," I answered truthfully. "I want to travel, but I'll settle wherever I'm happiest," I shrugged and continued, "even if it turns out to be Twilight Town." Roxas smiled and stared at the town below. The wind was picking up, but it was still warm enough that it barely mattered. As I looked at his thoughtful stare, a thought occurred. "If it could stay like this forever, I would stay forever."

Roxas raised his head and looked me dead in the eyes. His smile was comforting and his eyes were glowing again. Inside, I think I felt my heart glowing as well. "Let's go," he said suddenly. I was completely caught off guard as he stood up diligently. He stretched his hand out to help me, and I reluctantly took it.

Roxas was a good friend.

*****

"Well maybe you'll see him tomorrow right?" my dad asked casually.

"Yeah, hopefully we'll watch a movie or something," I said, with a relatively bland tone. I envisioned hanging out with Pence and a few others tonight at someone's house, watching a movie, and saw us having fun just talking. Suddenly, in my vision, after I looked away for a to let myself laugh, Roxas was next to me instead of Pence.

I shook my head to get myself back to reality again. My dad looked curious, but then he just laughed it off. "How's Olette?" he asked, attempting to get things going again.

"She's just up to the usual I guess…" For the rest of the ride home we continued to talk normally, just enjoying the day. A few hours later, once Pence told me he was on his way to pick me up, it really hit me that I was a bit upset that I wasn't going to see Roxas. I shrugged it off; it was probably because my dad asked about him that he stayed on my mind.

Roxas is a good friend.

* * *

**Considering this is a Roxas and Naminé fic, I thought it was important that this chapter be different. For one: It's the 13th chapter. Second: Naminé has been getting overshadowed a lot. Third: I've been wanting to do a "history" chapter for a while. Considering all three, writing from Naminé's point of view seemed perfect.**

**To be honest, it was relatively challenging, but I've grown up in an almost all-female household, so that helped a lot.**

**I hope you guys liked these past two! I feel like the story's world has become even more well established. I want to thank everyone who has favorited or reviewed this story for being a constant source of inspiration.**

**All reviews are welcome and encouraged!**


	14. June 14th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Goodnight Twilight

* * *

**

Sora pensively stared at my open beige suitcase. "More shorts," he finally said, nodding his head as he did so.

"Dude! I already have the entire week's worth!" I spat in retaliation. I flopped next to my suitcase and onto my green bed to stare at my white ceiling. 'Only one more day,' echoed in my head.

Sora chuckled. "I'm just kidding. I have a week's worth too, plus pants just in case." Sora had stopped by my house today and was helping me pack a bit to visit our grandparents in Radiant Garden. We were previously undecided about whether or not to go, but a month ago I got an email invite that I'd been praying for.

In Radiant Garden, there was a yearly battle of the bands competition that Sonic Dawn had entered for, and we actually made the cut this year. Radiant Records, a record company based in Radiant Garden, threw the competition together and they wanted bands from the area. Twilight Town was just close enough that we were eligible. We were one of only ten bands to make the cut, and the only one from Twilight Town. The battle would take place on the fifth day of our stay and Riku and Demyx planned to meet us there the day before or the day of the show. The city littered with Victorian-style influences would house us for the week and hopefully push us forward.

"I'll toss in the shorts I'm wearing now later," I said as I tugged at my khaki shorts. I took advantage of the June weather and wore a gray band t-shirt as well. Sora looked a little more formal than usual as he stood looking out my window in dark jeans and a red button shirt. He still looked like casual-Sora, but I still felt obligated to ask. "Is there a reason you're looking well dressed?" I said as I propped myself on my elbows.

Without looking at me, Sora said, "Today's the day." I honestly couldn't tell if he was fooling around or trying to actually say something important.

"The day for what?" I asked after a pause. I eyed Sora curiously as he seemed to snap out of his thoughts and finally look away from the view.

He sat next to me, and explained, "Today's the day I tell Kairi that I want to be together."

"…Wait, what?" I was completely dumbfounded. It was so obvious that the two would enter a relationship someday, but I wasn't expecting it now at all. "But we're leaving tomorrow."

Sora sat down on my bed to and told me, "I know, but I also have this feeling that it's important I tell her now. I just have this feeling things will change during our stay. I guess it's just superstition, but I somehow also know that the distance won't matter to us; not even so early." Sora had multiple deep moments where you just believed in what he said, and that moment was one of them. I let myself droop down as I wondered if I had anything so special with Xion. We were clearly committed, but it was nothing but clear skies so far.

"Today huh? How are you going to tell her?"

"I already asked her if she would hang out today. I told her that I'd like to go for ice cream and then the local park afterwards." Sora paused, seeming to assure himself that what was happening was actually happening. "I was a little vague, but something tells me that she could tell I wanted to ask something important."

"That's good," I commented in a supportive tone as I lifted myself again.

"But she also says she asked Naminé to tag along."

"That's not good," I commented, trying to avoid being hurtfully sarcastic.

"I think it's just to take some of the pressure off though."

"That's good… I guess." That was the only comment I could think of when it crossed my mind.

"Yep…" Sora said as he nodded solemnly. "Are you going out with Xion today?"

"I wanted to, but she's going to the beach with Axel and a few other friends." By friends I was thinking of Larxene and Demyx.

"You don't want to go with them?" Sora asked, looking confused that I passed up the opportunity.

"Nah, I figured I'd finish packing." To be honest, something deep inside told me that staying would be the better choice. "I'll be right back," I said as I went to use the bathroom. I did my business and was washing my hands when I looked myself in the mirror. 'One more day,' I told myself, trying to hype myself up and forget that I decided to skip the beach on a whim.

As I turned off the faucet, I heard a voice and this time I was fully awake and sure I could hear it. I stepped out of the bathroom onto the hardwood floor and looked to my right, the direction that my mom's room was in. I crept close to the door. I squinted my eyes, trying to cut off one sense's strength to make my hearing better. "Yes, tomorrow… No, I haven't… Yes… The same…" I stalked off slowly, feeling guilty about listening, but I couldn't help but wonder why the next day was special. 'Is she waiting for me to leave?' I asked myself.

My suspicions took a backseat as I pushed open the door to my room and Sora was on his phone looking distressed. He looked up and said, "Wait, he's right here, I'll ask him." Sora clicked mute and asked, "Do you want to go tonight?"

"With you guys on your…" I hesitated, but decided to stop dancing around the word, "date?"

Sora smiled warmly then continued, "Please? Pence had to drop out."

The same feeling deep inside that told me to stay came back full force. Without even thinking about it, I told him, "Sure." I shrugged afterwards in an effort to look casual, despite not controlling my own speech. I wandered over to my computer chair to take a seat and think about what I agreed to.

"Yeah, he'll go…" Sora told who I assumed was Kairi. "Great! Is six okay? The sun probably won't go down until practically eight." Sora chuckled as he was listening to what Kairi had to say. "See you then." Sora looked up to smile at me and I tried my best to smile back, but I think only half my face cooperated.

***

While Sora stuck to what he was dressed in, plus a simple black jacket for when it cooled down, I changed a little. I stuck with the shorts, but ditched the shirt for a black and white striped polo. Couldn't go wrong with mixing black and white again. The four of us were now at an ice cream place called coldrock, enjoying each other's company. The place was pretty large and clean. It had typical white tiled floor, was painted in a relatively creamy white, and the entire front entrance was glass, but it wasn't especially crowded.

For the evening, Kairi opted for a nice pink sundress; she looked really nice. Naminé went with nice jeans and a white fleece jacket over a light blue shirt. It was typical Naminé to choose to include white. Since no one was really calling it a date out loud for obvious reasons, when we chose a booth, Sora and I sat next to each other and Kairi and Naminé sat across from us, respectively.

"They play that song way too much!" Kairi said, venting her frustration that this hip-hop song, that was good at first, had been constantly played for practically two months.

"I know, right? On every station too," Sora said, agreeing wholeheartedly. The conversation was going well; Sora was always a people person though. Me being me, I constantly would look over at Naminé while Sora was talking and roll my eyes in ridicule. It consistently made her at least smile widely. Kairi caught on a few times and stifled a few giggles every time.

"The ice cream here is really good," I commented, stealing the conversation. I felt the need because the ice cream here _really was_ so good I had to say it out loud. We all got cups of our favorite flavors.

"Sea-salt?" Naminé asked me.

"Of course." Naminé shook her head in a way that said, 'I knew it.' I looked at her ice cream again and couldn't help but once again notice that her choice looked identical. "Did you get the same?"

"Yeah, it tastes really good," she said, digging through her ice cream again. I let out an uncontrolled smile while she dug. At that moment, I remembered to look to my side and saw that Sora and Kairi were smiling at Naminé and I. I attempted to cough to relieve the tension but it came out awkwardly. Naminé then looked up, a bit confused by our differing faces as I tried to stare down Sora unsuccessfully. I actually felt somewhat relieved that we were almost done.

*

Despite it being so dark, Twilight Town Community Park was still really beautiful. It was basically a square with each side being a little more than one mile in length. The northern half of the park was stocked with basketball courts, tennis courts, a baseball field, and a colorful children's jungle gym. The southern half, which is where we had just wandered to, was incredibly thick with old and semi-exotic trees. To get around, there was a pathway that swerved very randomly. The point of it not being straightforward was so that the path would take longer to go through and just because it was aesthetically nice. Naminé and I were about halfway through, walking very casually.

"So what do you get if you win?" Naminé asked.

"Well there's a choice between a cash prize and recording a demo in one of the studios the company owns." I kept my hands in my pockets and kept looking forward, imagining I was walking to my goals at that very moment.

"If you win, which one are you guys going for?" I could feel Naminé looking at me.

I looked to her to answer and was overwhelmed by her curious expression. A second later, as I stuttered, Xion's face subconsciously popped into my head and cleared things up. "We want to do the recording. We figure that it'll help more in the long run since it could lead to more demos and eventually full albums, which is of course the ultimate goal." Naminé nodded, kindly letting my words sink in. I expected she'd say something simple yet interesting, but couldn't help but ask her first, "So do you think Sora finally asked out your BFF?"

Naminé's demeanor changed from comfortable companion to full on teenage girl instantly. "I hope so! It was so obvious this was coming; it was such a relief when Sora finally made that call!"

I tried to stifle laughter with little success. "Let's go see if he did ask her out." I picked up the pace and started jogging lightly down the shadowy path. I kept myself from going to fast so that Naminé would stay close. Call it instinct, but that something that's been guiding me a lot lately told me to take Naminé's hand. At first, it seemed a little stiff and firm, but it quickly compromised and I felt her hand loosen within mine before I could think about it more.

We finally got out of the thicket of trees and slowed down as we started walking at a normal pace to the kid's part of the park. Sora and Kairi had decided to hang back there when I suggested a walk. As Naminé and I got closer, I noticed that they were still there, except sitting on an old looking brown bench together. I finally caught my breath and kept guiding Naminé when I realized I was still holding her hand. I looked at our hands then at her face. She repeated my actions and softly laughed. I reluctantly squeezed her hand a little to not only warn her I was letting go, but to also get one last good feel of her smooth and gentle hand.

As the two of us finally reached Sora and Kairi, trying our best to seem nonchalant, we noticed they were both smiling with their eyes closed, leaning on each other. I took in the sight as I heard Naminé softly let out an "Aww" at the two. Sora and Kairi finally opened their eyes and straightened themselves out as they saw us.

"So… Are you guys…?" I implored.

"Yes," Sora said with defiance. "Kairi is my girlfriend." He then looked at Kairi who returned the gaze, and the two shared a peck.

Naminé let out an "Aww" once again.

* * *

**I want to go ahead and apologize for taking so long to update; I've been really busy with school. The past two weeks I've had multiple tests and papers due. Sad, but true.**

**So after the last chapter, I couldn't help but throw in relationship fluff to keep up with the mood and show that Roxas and Naminé are still kicking while Sora and Kairi finally have gone for it. At the same time, you can see that Radiant Garden will be the setting for at least one more major plot point. A mini story arc will take place there over the next two (maybe three) chapters. I was also thinking about Sora starting off the next chapter by reviewing how he asked out Kairi.**

**Special thanks to Eragonmetal6, Sato Tadashi, xforgottenmemories, and idoenjoyanime for reviewing the last two chapters!**

**Any opinions on this chapter? Thoughts on the foreshadowing? All reviews are welcome!**


	15. June 15th16th

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Kingdom Hearts franchise or any of it's characters and encourage support of the official release.**

**Sonic Dawn**

**Radiant Welcome**

* * *

**JUNE 15****th**

"Got enough underwear?"

"Mom!"

"I'm just kidding Roxas," my mom said smiling. She hugged me with warmth immediately after. I stretched my arms around her and felt my heart sink for a moment. Sora had just gotten on the train, and his parents were standing, with his dad holding his mom as they watched us patiently. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too mom," I said as we let go. I gave her one last smile as I heaved my small brown suitcase onto the train with me. As I started walking down the aisle to my assigned seat next to Sora, I noticed how nice the seats covered in a soft blue fabric seemed so clean and how all of the inside of the train was blue and silver. The colors were a stark contrast to the golden fire colors of station plaza. It wasn't especially crowded either, only about half of the 60 or so seats in this particular car were taken. Sora waved me over as he could see me coming. I lucked out and got the window seat when we bought tickets, so I took my place and jammed my suitcase underneath my seat.

As I untangled my iPod, I leaned over and looked out the long and large window to see if our parents were still there. To my surprise, they still were. The three were talking, with Sora's parents looking firm. My mother on the other hand, looked like she was deeply unsettled about something. Was she that worried about me?

"Ready?" My concentration was shattered as I suddenly remembered that Sora was on my other side.

"Yeah, a few hours should be kind of relaxing," I commented as I settled into my seat again. I turned on my iPod and the train started to take off. I glanced out the window again as we were leaving, but didn't see our parents again. It was nothing but scattered people waving goodbye to our fellow passengers and travelers who had either just gotten off or were waiting for a different train. As the train sped, the bystanders disappeared and were replaced by empty plains. I sighed slowly, anticipating the ride.

"I'm going to try to get some sleep now if I can," Sora said as he pulled out a neck comforter from the backpack of extras we brought. I laughed at the site and Sora just smiled, not denying how funny he looked.

"I will soon too. I'll set my alarm on my phone." Sora closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly; I honestly couldn't pinpoint when exactly he did fall asleep. I took out my phone to set the alarm and noticed that there was a text message from Xion I missed. It read: _Hey sweetie, sorry about not seeing you off. Kairi and I have been watching our grandpa. He's pretty sick. Call me when you get there. Love you, bye._

I smiled to myself as I set my alarm after reading the text. Being with Xion was as easy as it got. We didn't fight, we didn't worry too much about each other, and we always kept each other at least content. I stuffed my phone in my pocket, and let my head rest onto the window. It was a good two hours minimum to get to Radiant Garden. As I stared out the window, I listened to my iPod and lots of mellow rock songs kept flooding out the earpieces. The songs sounded like they came from teens like myself who came from the tiny towns we passed, looking for the right sound.

"What are you thinking about?" asked a familiar and distinct voice. At first, I wasn't sure I'd heard anything. Then the voice piped up again, "Roxas?"

I looked away from the window and right in front of me, arms hugging her seat and her head over the top to look at me was Xion. "Xion?!" I asked incredulously. "Did you get here after we did or something?" I genuinely felt shocked and excited. Deep inside though, I think I even felt a bit apprehensive that she was coming along.

"Roxas," Xion said, giving me a smile with eyes that said, 'You know better'.

"I'm dreaming, aren't I?" I asked, looking around, everything basically the same. It was unusually quiet though. The only sound was the train moving along the tracks.

"Of course; and of course, you dream of me," Xion said teasingly.

I laughed, and a thought crossed my mind. "So, dream-Xion," Xion became noticeably more attentive as I said that, "do you really want to know what I'm thinking about?"

"Of course sweetie." Her face kept the attentive smile.

"Well, I'm worried," I answered honestly. Xion's face fell with concern. "This might be our best chance at something big for Sonic Dawn, and I'm worried we'll fall short."

Xion nodded slowly as she let my words sink in. "Just try your best. Your friends and family love you, including the real me, you know that." A comforting smile came across Xion's face again.

I chuckled to myself. I looked out the window as another sleepy town passed and conceded, "You're right." Something else crossed my mind, and I stared at the seat in front of me, avoiding eye contact with Xion's face, which was just a foot above the spot I was staring at. "What about us?"

There was a pause before Xion answered. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean," I said blatantly, finally looking up at Xion's slightly frightened face. "Things are supposed to be perfect."

"Aren't they?"

"We should make each other laugh more than anyone else we know, we should get along with each other more than anyone else in our lives, we should excite each other every time we see one another, we should feel something inside that refuses to fully ever be explained. I don't know if I feel that," I ranted. Xion's face just stared in a quiet awe. Before I let her retort, I finished, "Things are perfect, but maybe there's a better perfect for both of us out there. I wonder if staying together is the right thing or if we're just dragging things along."

Xion looked me dead in the eye with an empathetic gaze. "I'm glad you finally learned to ask yourself."

"What do you mean?" I asked. Suddenly, everything went dark and then light again. Xion and I were standing on top of the clock tower in Twilight Town as the sun was setting again. This time though, we were on the East side of the clock tower, in the shadow of the top structure.

"I'm part of your dream. I am the part of you that refused to think that we were settling."

I stared at the shadows in thought, not sure of what to say.

"Don't think that you can't question," Xion added. "Plus, there's another part of you that you've buried that's waiting to be challenged." I looked up and Xion was staring behind me. I turned around, and saw that someone's shadow was moving, signifying that they were coming our way.

"Who is it?" I asked Xion, almost expecting the oncoming figure to answer for her.

"You know, Roxas." I turned around to see her face and try to make sense of the situation. "Before you wake, remember the real me will always love you, no matter what you choose. I know because you know it inside your heart." Xion gave me a comforting and warm smile that calmed me.

As the warmth of believing things would turn out okay overtook me, everything shattered immediately.

I jerked wildly in my seat as I realized I was back on the train in reality. My phone's alarm had started going off and I was sweating. I ran a hand across my forehead and felt its warmth. The sun was shining through the window and Sora was mumbling; his sleep was obviously disturbed by my moving. "Is it time already?" he asked without opening his eyes.

"Pretty soon, yeah," I responded, still becoming aware of my surroundings again.

*

It was my turn to wear the backpack as Sora and I stumbled out of the train's doors and onto Radiant Garden's station's pavement. I almost fell backward as I lugged my suitcase off of the train's steps, but was steadied by someone as Sora hopped off.

"Easy there Roxas," said a raspy and deep voice. I turned around, and my grandfather was the one who helped me. He was smiling with astute confidence that came with age. He kind of looked like he might've just gotten out of a meeting as he was wearing slacks and a nice white dress shirt, but he was missing the jacket and tie.

"Grandpa!" I said excitedly as I gave a quick and firm hug.

"Hey grandpa," Sora greeted happily as he also gave him a hug. "Where's grandma? How are you?"

Our grandpa chuckled, "She's waiting for us back home; and I'm fine, thank you." Gramps proceeded to lead us to the car in the lot and continuously suggested he help, which we comically shrugged off continuously. He liked to think he was younger than he really was, despite his light brown hair having plenty of white streaks.

When we got to the car, Sora sat in front after calling shotgun. I didn't mind; I liked being able to stare out the window. As soon as we climbed into the cool black Cadillac, some oldies started playing on the radio right away and memories of coming past years came flooding back. I remembered the house, the shops, and the people. Sora and I met a handful of older and reserved people here, but they all had good hearts and were interesting people. Sora got along with them especially well. I was excited by the prospect of seeing some of them again as we passed the main streets and headed into the living areas of town. The entire city had a classic and Victorian feel. There was actually a decent sized castle, but it had been emptied a while ago. It just belonged to the city now, I assumed.

I also thought about Axel's cousin Lea, whom I looked forward to seeing again. He already promised to show us a good time, so I was going to hold him to it. It turned out that he lived only a few minutes away. It was funny to think that we had never met until a few months ago.

"We're home boys," gramps said as he pulled onto the house's street. After we pulled onto the driveway, we all climbed out quickly in anticipation and I got a good look at the house. It was very simple and made with gray brick, like many other buildings in the city. The sun was barely lighting the sky now, but the house looked just as nice. Its appearance was classic.

Sora and I let our grandpa get the backpack after all as we entered into the front door. It was spacious, cozy, and clean inside. "Boys?" called my grandmother's voice. A minute later, Sora's and my grandmother came from the kitchen in the back to greet us. She looked very classy wearing some women's slacks and an intricate white blouse. She didn't stop walking as she us and basically charged into us as she tightly hugged me, as I was closer to the hallway to the kitchen, and Sora. "Roxas! Sora! How are you two? Did you have a nice ride?"

I simply shrugged with a smile, still trying to make sense of my dream. I did manage to tell her, "We're doing great. The trip was fine."

"Yeah, we mostly slept to be honest," Sora added, laughing a bit.

"Well you must be hungry. It's time for supper," said our grandmother. Sora and I looked at each other to gauge how hungry we were. Sora didn't hide his enthusiasm to finally eat, and I didn't bother hiding it either.

Our grandpa laughed before telling us to follow him into the kitchen.

**JUNE 16****th**

"See you guys later!" Sora called as he and I jogged out of the house.

"Have fun boys," called out grandpa. Typical grandfather response.

"Be safe!" added grandma. Again, a typical grandparent response.

Sora and I didn't actually say anything about jogging, but once we started, it just became an unspoken necessity. It was fun little competition to try to see who could make it to Lea's street first. We passed a handful of intersections to reach Lea's house, and it usually gave whoever was lagging a chance to catch up. What was cool about running around here was that everyone else seemed to go at a decent pace as well.

After a total of seven blocks, we reached Lea's house. Although he told us the exact address, we probably could've guessed it was his because it was one of the few houses made with almost nothing but red brick. We jogged up the steps of his porch and rang the doorbell. Seconds later, we were met by Lea's infectious grin.

"Hey guys, come on in." Lea stepped aside to let us in. "I haven't seen you guys in a while. How was the trip?"

"It was fine. Just excited to be here," I said, and Sora agreed.

"Well come on over to my room, there's someone here already, but he's cool. Oh, I told you about him before Roxas." We followed Lea to the right as he led us to his upstairs and turned into the first room on the right on the second floor. I immediately noticed two things: Lea had an awesome view of the town, and the boy with a blue jacket and long blue hair. The boy seemed to be our age and was playing playstation. "Hey Isa, the guys I told you about are here," Lea said excitedly.

Isa paused his game to get a look at us and give an obligatory polite smile. His eyes froze over me though and his smile faded. "You're Roxas?"

Needless to say, I was caught off guard. "Yeah, how'd you guess?"

"Lea told me you looked like Ventus, but I didn't think it would be this obvious."

I scratched my head awkwardly. Suddenly, an idea crossed my mind. "I'll have to meet this guy while I'm here."

"Hey, that's not a bad idea," commented Lea. He proceeded to grab some extra controllers and toss them towards Sora and I. "He actually invited us to see him play at this café; we can go after I kick all your butts in this game."

As the game was being reset, I had to ask, "So he's a musician too?"

"Yeah, he's playing the Radiant Garden battle of the bands too."

* * *

**So the Radiant Garden story arc has officially kicked off, meaning the halfway mark has officially been past if you're reading this! Also, the days will run together more in this arc, as you can see by this chapter being split into two days.**

**The trip is a week long, but I'll probably skip the last two days as the trip will culminate in the battle of the bands on the fifth day. How was this chapter though? I bet the dream sequence was ultra-spacey, but it was meant to be, so I hope you guys liked it. Lea and Isa obviously will be the main supporting characters for now. Did you guys catch my drift with older friends from the area?**

**Special thanks to idoenjoyanime, xforgottenmemories, glos-peach, Ayla, and Sato Tadashi for reviewing the previous chapter!**

**All reviews are welcome!**


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